#Alex Rodriguez gets pushback for calling for MLB salary cap

Alex Rodriguez, one of the bidders attempting to purchase the Mets, is already sounding like an owner.

In regards to declining relations between the MLB and the players association, Rodriguez argued that players no longer have the same leverage they enjoyed when the two sides locked horns during a seven-and-a-half-month strike in 1994-95. Specifically, the former three-time American League MVP believes players should be open to adopting a salary cap system.

The players association was able to previously fend off a salary cap system during the strike.

“The only way it’s going to happen is if they get to the table and say the No. 1 goal, let’s get from $10 to $15 billion and then we’ll split the economics evenly,” Rodriguez told reporters Thursday. “But that’s the type of conversation instead of fighting and fighting against each other because there is too much competition out there right now.”

The “competition” Rodriguez is referencing is coming from other sports leagues and rising media powerhouses. Rodriguez believes baseball has lost its grip on consumers.

“Then [during the strike] we had a stranglehold on professional sports. Baseball was 1,” Rodriguez said. “Today the NBA has become an international conglomerate, NFL’s a juggernaut. Back then there was no Netflix, there was no Snapchat, there was no Disney , ESPN and everything they’re doing to attract their attention. So today we have to really work collaboratively, with the players and the owners, to say ‘how do we compete together to become No. 1?’”

Rodriguez made roughly $448 million throughout his career, enjoying the fruits of a salary cap-less system. His comments have irked current players hoping for the same system.

“Alex benefited as much as anybody from the battles this union fought against owners’ repeated attempts to get a salary cap,” union head Tony Clark said in a statement. “Now that he is attempting to become an owner himself his perspective appears to be different. And that perspective does not reflect the best interests of the players.”

Rodriguez, currently an analyst for ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball broadcast, is preparing for his third season with the network. He will not broadcast Mets games while bidding for the team, however.