00:00The only thing that could obviously hurt it is what we could be experiencing
00:04in a little bit over a month from now, which would be in a lockout.
00:06I don't think a lockout would crush us, Scott.
00:09But if it ran deep into the regular season, yes,
00:12I think that could be hurtful for the sport.
00:14I don't think, Craig, we're going to get one.
00:17Or at least I don't think it's going to cost us games.
00:20I really, you know, I've had this discussion with people,
00:22and I just don't think there's a consensus amongst the owners
00:26that they want a ceiling because there's no way in the world
00:30you could have a ceiling unless you have a floor.
00:32And I just think there are way, way, way too many owners,
00:35especially this year, like, you know, Cleveland and Tampa Bay and Milwaukee
00:40and all these teams, White Sox, that all made the playoffs
00:43that are in the bottom rung of salary.
00:45If you tell these teams, listen, you've got to spend $30 more million
00:48to get on top of the floor, they're going to be like, no, I don't want that.
00:53No.
00:54Go ahead, Dodgers, Yankees, Phillies, spend all the money you want.
00:57I don't care.
00:58We're going to the playoffs.
00:59You guys are.
01:00We're going to the World Series.
01:01We've proven we can win.
01:05So I just – I don't think there'll be a consensus of locking teams out
01:08or locking players out to the point where we're going to have no baseball.
01:13I just – I think, to me, if I was an owner, my biggest concern would be,
01:19hey, let's eliminate the 10-, 12-, 13-year contracts that are just moronic, right?
01:24The NBA doesn't allow that.
01:26You know, football doesn't allow that.
01:28So let's – sports can make it five years, maybe six years.
01:32That's what I would be striving for.
01:34Now I've got a fighting chance to keep my star athlete versus the Yankees
01:38or whoever, San Francisco, you know, giving out 13-year contracts.
01:42Mets.
01:42I can't compete with that if I'm Pittsburgh or the White Sox or Cleveland.
01:46But if we can limit it to four or five years, giving them an incentive like the NBA has
01:50to, if you sign with your current team, you can make more,
01:54that's the stuff I think they should be fighting for.
01:57Yeah.
01:57No, I think that's fair.
01:59But, you know, Scott, I'm here to tell you that there is a consensus.
02:03And all the owners, with the exception of maybe one or two, you know,
02:07from what has been reported, are – they're all unified.
02:10They all want the cap on the floor.
02:12All the bottom want the floor.
02:14And all of the big –
02:15What do you think the floor would be?
02:16And how would these teams afford it?
02:19Pretty easily, without a problem.
02:22It would not be an issue for any of these teams.
02:25Yeah.
02:25Yeah, it would not be an issue.
02:26Yeah.
02:27150, maybe 200 million, something like that, with a floor of 300, 350,
02:32something like that.
02:34You know, Mark Walter, who is, you know, say what you want now,
02:37was already talking, you know, unified in terms of wanting –
02:40and saying, yes, a cap is needed.
02:43So, Scott, they've been – these guys have sat through this.
02:47They know what they want at this point.
02:48Are there some owners who could go the other way and say –
02:52or want to go the other way privately and say, oh, you know, I don't really want –
02:56yes, of course.
02:57It's not the way it works, Scott.
02:58These guys are unified, 100%.
03:01All want the same thing.
03:04And the biggest – the thing that you mentioned, when does it start to get ugly?
03:09When does the dam break, so to speak?
03:13April 1st, because that's when the players get paid.
03:16That's the date.
03:17So, I just don't know what's going to happen until then,
03:21because there's really no ramifications for the players until then.
03:24So, I'll see you next time.
