When a sports league locks out its players -- as MLB is expected to do once the collective bargaining agreement expires -- it relinquishes more than just the threat of lost games.
MLB will also lose its right to display players' likenesses online and on social media, whether on its own official website or those of its team-owned regional sports partners. Teams and leagues will no longer be able to use any MLBPA players in promotions, whether in video or photographs. It entails an immense effort throughout the AL and NL organizations to basically scrub any evidence of the players from existence.
MLB is planning for that reality, and has left no stone unturned, according to a report Wednesday.
A 34-page memo outlined actions teams are expected to take once the lockout is instituted, The Athletic's Evan Drellich reported. Included in that memo were instructions to the teams not to send out holiday cards to their players after the CBA expires Dec. 2, Drellich noted on X.
That might seem draconian, but it's part of what it means when an employer locks out an employee union. Players and teams are expected to have zero contact -- or at least as little contact as possible. MLB's instructions even dictated how team and league employees are expected to act if they attend players' weddings in the offseason, and if a player leaves his car at a team facility over the offseason, according to Drellich, it will be removed.
It is likely to be a long winter, and potentially a long spring if labor negotiations don't progress efficiently enough to begin next season on time. The last stoppage, which came after MLB locked out the players in winter 2021, delayed 2022 opening day by a week, although no games ultimately were lost.