Plenty of challenges remain before the the 2020 Major League Baseball season is able to start, but both the league and the players will soon meet to discuss how the sport can resume.
Ronald Blum of The Associated Press reported Monday that MLB owners have approved a proposal that outlines how the season could begin in early July without fans attending games. The league will submit the proposal to the MLB Players' Union. The 2020 season was postponed in March amid the outbreak of COVID-19.
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Here's some of what the proposal includes, per the AP's report:
Spring training would start in early to mid-June, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the plan were not announced. Each team would play about 82 regular-season games: against opponents in its own division plus interleague matchups limited to AL East vs. NL East, AL Central vs. NL Central and AL West vs. NL West. Postseason play would be expanded from 10 clubs to 14 by doubling wild cards in each league to four.
The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reported Monday a meeting involving the league and union to discuss the proposal is expected to happen Tuesday. USA TODAY's Bob Nightengale reported Monday that "The MLB proposal that was agreed upon among the owners and submitted to the union now calls for a 50-50 revenue split."
It's unknown how long this process could take. There could be several counter-proposals from both sides. The fact that both sides are going to meet with this week is at least some good news.
While some states have started to re-open over the last few weeks, many states that are home to MLB teams either haven't yet re-opened or haven't given the approval for sporting events to take place. If some teams are unable to play in their home ballparks, games could be played at spring training venues, per the AP report.