#How baseball can get back on the field and stay there: Sherman

Deep breath moment. Every once in a while Thelma and Louise in the car heading toward the cliff (that would be Rob Manfred and Tony Clark) need to be given a pump-the-brakes timeout.

I hate cliches, so forgive me because I am watching both sides trying to win a battle and lose a war. That war is for the hearts and minds — and dollars — of fans not just in the sprint that will be the 2020 season regardless of length, but more vitally over the future of the game.

Deep breath.

There is going to be very little baseball played this year from Tee Ball to the minor leagues. So MLB is facing a major disruption to both its feeder system and a firmament to how fans are created, which is to play the game themselves. So MLB and its players might want to figure out how to play as a way to not so desperately fall out of sight, out of mind (sorry, another cliche).

Deep breath.

Hollywood is essentially tapped out. There are no non-animated pilots or shows being produced. There are no movies in production. There will be a documentary here and the creative musician there. The only consistent fresh content, however, is going to be televised sports. So the ability to get on the field first before the NBA or the NHL matters. The ability to do it on Independence Day weekend to renew the connection to the country and its national pastime matters.

There is a multi-front crisis in the country. The worst in everyone’s lifetime. That owners and players have squabbled amid that is damaging reputations on both sides. To squabble and not find peace would multiply the harm. But only forever. And it would miss out on the opportunity afforded in the crisis to create new fans and to form new money-making partnerships.

Sometimes I wonder if the folks involved appreciate that MLB needs to exist beyond just this season and that each body blow one side delivers to the other makes that future less promising.

I get it. There is a ton of historic mistrust on both sides that poisons attempts at peace. There is a collective bargaining agreement expiring after the 2021 season. Neither side wants to come off an entrenched position and give the other belief that the same will happen in CBA talks. Got it. Understand it. Respect it.

Deep breath.

But there is likely to be baseball in 2020 because Manfred could implement a 50-game-ish season with full prorated pay that will leave it feeling like the worst marriage kept together for the kids’ sake. There will be no cooperation. There will be further bad feelings. There will be corporations that do not want to invest short or long term with an industry that could not rise to its best angels in such a devilish time. And there will be a fan base dispirited further by a credibility-destroying enterprise conceived in hate.

Deep breath.

Or — now stick with me here — they can work together. Crazy. But MLB’s projection for an 82-game season was $2.8 billion. That was artificially low to conceive the worst outcomes in all areas.

But what if players agreed to take (this percent can change, but let’s have a starting point) 60 percent of their prorated salaries. And for every $500 million the game grows from greater sponsorship dollars than anticipated, paying fans actually returning in many cities, regional sports networks giving more than the prorated dollars, a season played to championship conclusion and national TV money enlarging with expanded playoffs, the players get an additional 10 percent of their salary. So that if the revenues reach $4.8 billion this year, the players are made whole. But if it gets to $5.3 billion they make 110 percent of their salary, etc.

What would this do? It would foster mutual cooperation. Sure, players will wear microphones and do fan and corporate outreach and participate in off-field productions (“Hard Knocks” becomes “Hard Hits” with the Colorado Rockies). Again, networks and streaming services are hungry for content and hunger equals pay.

Since the players are taking a 40 percent pay cut risk here they get approval rights on an independent auditor to determine the revenue. They also get raises to $750,000 next year and $800,000 the following year in minimum salary. They get protections for free agency the next two years with the removal of all luxury tax penalties, elimination of compensation draft picks if a team signs a free agent made a qualifying offer and a set offseason trade deadline to foster greater bidding for what actually is available.

Does it have to be exactly this? Of course not, but there are areas of mutual interest to put on the best possible show now and allow a greater chance of growth in the near future. It will take cooperation, big-picture thinking, an appreciation that what is good for one can be made good for both. That projecting cooperation is what will makes fans and corporate partners beyond the battle, but for the long war. The leaders have to get off the gas pedal toward the cliff.

Deep breath.