Monday, February 28 (which means today) was the day in which MLB‘s broadcasting service, MLB.TV, was supposed to make auto renewals with the 2022 season in mind.
As of the afternoon, there is still no guarantee that there will be a season at all, because of the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations.
The two sides, owners and players, haven’t been able to agree on a new CBA to cover the 2022-2026 period.
Naturally, there was a small campaign on social media over the weekend for people to cancel their 2022 subscriptions/auto renewals, because there is no baseball to broadcast as of now and the expectation was that the league would automatically perform the billing process.
A Good Move By The League: How About Taking That Spirit To CBA Talks?
The league, as a goodwill move (yes, that sounds hard to believe, but it happened!) has some good news for fans on that front.
“Update on #MLBTV and MLB Audio subscription renewals: we will not bill for 2022 subscriptions today. Notification about renewal will occur once a new CBA is in effect. All current subscriptions will remain active until then. Subscribers, check your email for important updates,” the official MLB.TV Twitter account said.
— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) February 28, 2022
In the middle of a silent war between owners and the Players Association for a lot of things, it’s a nice gesture by the league towards fans.
That can’t be denied.
It would be an even bigger gesture if they finally negotiated in good faith and guaranteed fans a full 162-game season starting in early April.
The two sides, however, are still worlds apart and a deal is looking highly unlikely for Monday, the day that MLB established as the deadline for the season to be played with all 162 games.
The next few hours will be crucial for talks, and will decide the future of baseball in 2022.
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