{"id":955110,"date":"2026-11-06T20:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T20:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/955110\/"},"modified":"2026-11-06T20:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T20:14:09","slug":"fehr-explains-why-labor-pr-battle-is-struggle-for-mlb-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/955110\/","title":{"rendered":"Fehr explains why labor PR battle is struggle for MLB players"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-leagues-and-governing-bodies \">MLB players have historically struggled to win the public relations battle during labor negotiations, though the situation is not as bleak as it once was, according to former longtime MLBPA executive director Donald Fehr.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-leagues-and-governing-bodies \">A new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsbusinessjournal.com\/Articles\/2026\/10\/29\/new-sbjseton-hall-poll-finds-that-majority-of-mlb-fans-support-a-salary-cap\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">SBJ poll conducted Oct. 8-13<\/a> in partnership with Seton Hall Univ. found that 54% of MLB fans favor a salary cap, with 19% opposed. However, 39% would blame owners for a work stoppage, compared to 28% who would blame players.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-leagues-and-governing-bodies \">During a recent episode of \u201cThe Bret Boone Podcast,\u201d Fehr cited several reasons players have struggled to gain public sympathy, including what he described as owners\u2019 \u201cstranglehold on media outlets\u201d and fans\u2019 complicated relationships with players.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-leagues-and-governing-bodies \">\u201cFans identify with players. They don\u2019t identify with the others,\u201d Fehr said. But while fans view owners as \u201coligarchs who are never going to bend,\u201d their attitude toward players is often, \u201cthey\u2019re making enough. I don\u2019t feel sorry for them.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-leagues-and-governing-bodies \">Still, Fehr believes two factors could work in players\u2019 favor compared to the 1994-95 strike.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-leagues-and-governing-bodies \">\u201cOligarchs are not all that well regarded these days,\u201d he said. \u201cSuper rich people are beginning to be complained about a lot more than they used to be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-leagues-and-governing-bodies \">The internet also gives the union an advantage it lacked three decades ago, allowing it to reach players \u201cvastly more quickly than we could back in 1994 and 1995,\u201d Fehr said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-leagues-and-governing-bodies \">Those dynamics could come into play as MLB and the union remain at odds over the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsbusinessjournal.com\/Articles\/2026\/11\/03\/mlb-proposes-hard-cap-and-floor-system-would-begin-in-2028\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">hard salary cap and floor system proposed by the league and its owners<\/a>. The current CBA expires in less than a month, with a lockout likely beginning Dec. 2.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-leagues-and-governing-bodies \">Fehr also wondered about what role President Trump, a former professional sports owner, might play in negotiations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-leagues-and-governing-bodies \">\u201cI don\u2019t know what direction that will push him in, if any, but that\u2019s out there,\u201d Fehr said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-leagues-and-governing-bodies \">Another concern is that fans have more entertainment options than they did during previous labor disputes and could simply move on if games are missed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-leagues-and-governing-bodies \">\u201cWhat that ought to do is have a moderating influence on negotiations. Whether it will or not, I don\u2019t know,\u201d Fehr said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of inertia that goes into these negotiations, and owners have historically been able to persuade themselves of just about anything. But the one thing they know for sure is they all make more money if the players get paid less, and they all agree that\u2019s better.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MLB players have historically struggled to win the public relations battle during labor negotiations, though the situation is&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":955111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,4034,591,85],"class_list":["post-955110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=955110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/955110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/955111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=955110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=955110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=955110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}