Players’ Union Rejects Owners’ Salary Cap : Baseball: Negotiations will continue Wednesday, but a strike date is expected by July 31.

The threat of a work stoppage continued to cloud the 1994 season as the baseball players’ union officially rejected the owners’ salary cap proposal during a negotiating session in New York Monday and countered with a proposal that would basically maintain the current compensation system.

There will be more negotiations Wednesday, but the union is expected to set a strike date by July 31.

“I’m extremely disappointed that the union has made no effort to respond to the game’s economic problems or to the clubs’ fundamental concern--how to control costs,” said Richard Ravitch, the owners’ chief negotiator.

“I would characterize the players’ proposal as wanting more, more and more. It will not fly, and it doesn’t do baseball or the fans any good for the union to remain rigid at this point in the game’s history.”

The union contends an August or September work stoppage, threatening the owners’ postseason TV revenue, is their only leverage against the owners declaring an impasse and implementing their salary-cap system if there is no agreement by the end of the World Series.

Don Fehr, executive director of the union, said that a salary cap would restrict salaries, transfer $1.2 billion or more from players to owners over the life of the contract, destroy free agency and arbitration, inhibit competitive balance because decisions would be made on the basis of economics rather than ability, benefit the large-market teams and reduce incentives for increasing revenue because clubs would be guaranteed a profit under the cap.

He reiterated that by linking increased revenue sharing among the clubs to a salary cap, the big-market clubs merely want to make the players pay for helping the small-market clubs.

“If the revenue streams have changed,” Fehr said, “why do the players have to pay? Why don’t (the owners) simply change their revenue-sharing formula without linking it to a cap? The answer is obvious.”

The players’ proposal would increase the minimum salary from $109,000 to at least $175,000, eliminate certain repeat free agency restrictions, increase pension benefits and reduce arbitration eligibility from a basic three years of major league service to two.

The basic disagreement stems from a difference of opinion regarding the game’s economic status. Ravitch insists that 19 teams will lose money this year, and that that number is growing. Fehr insists that revenue is 10 times greater than it was in 1976-77, and at $1.8 billion a year “it’s difficult to accept Ravitch’s contention.”

In the Black

Operating revenues, operating expenses and operating profits or losses since 1983 for the 26 major league baseball teams, as obtained by the Associated Press. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand dollars.

Year Revenues Expenses Profit/Loss 1983 $521,656,000 $588,259,000 -$66,603,000 1984 $624,223,000 $665,211,000 -$40,988,000 1985 $717,813,000 $724,896,000 -$7,083,000 1986 $791,875,000 $780,347,000 +$11,528,000 1987 $910,924,000 $807,687,000 +$103,237,000 1988 $1,007,519,000 $885,915,000 +$121,604,000 1989 $1,241,059,000 $1,026,550,000 +$214,509,000 1990 $1,336,530,000 $1,193,663,000 +$142,867,000 1991 $1,537,395,000 $1,438,442,000 +$98,953,000 1992* $1,663,367,000 $1,641,146,000 +$22,221,000 1993* $1,879,737,000 $1,829,408,000 +$50,329,000

* Management projections