San Diego Padres: New CBA Will Have Little Impact

With the new collective bargaining agreement officially ratified, the San Diego Padres find themselves with a similar revenue share.

Controversy and conflict of any kind is always fascinating to national sports media. The tensions surrounding the latest collective bargaining agreement is a perfect example of this. When a conclusion was not immediately reached, many went into panic mode.

The reality was though that this agreement only took a little bit longer to reach. On Monday, it was officially ratified, meaning that there will be no lockout for Major League Baseball in 2017.

And unlike even some local media indicated, the new CBA doesn’t impact the San Diego Padres much at all. They will still share somewhere between $20 million and $30 million of revenue, and will not be restricted in any additional way.

Every owner voted on the new agreement, which passed 29 to 1. The only owner oppose the proposition was Stuart Sternberg of the Tampa Bay Rays.

In fact, San Diego owner Ron Fowler was critical in the process. Leading the labor committee, this may have been a whole lot more interesting without Fowler.

The deal lasts through 2021, meaning that the MLB will be the only major professional sports league to go 26 straight years without a lockout since they began bargaining collectively.

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But for the Padres, all of this is pretty much irrelevant. Unless fans care about travel expenses or competitive balance taxes, most of what has caused this controversy is going to have nothing to do with what happens on the field next season. This is what fans are concerned about. Now that they know they will have baseball, they have no problem leaving the insignificant details up to the front office.

As far as the club is concerned, the deal will slightly alter what they spend. However, it will do the same for every other organization. Since the Padres were not singled out in any way as a result of this agreement, they have nothing to worry about. The product on the field is what will matter.

Next: Embracing the Tank and the Rebuild

Of course, the media still wants to make a story out of this. But even though the owners couldn’t come to an instant agreement, baseball is not going anywhere. And for San Diego fans, they shouldn’t care. Anyone who does is probably trying to make an excuse for what might be another rebuilding year.