MLB - With Nearly $10 Billion In Profit This Year - Cries Poverty, Wants To Make It Illegal For Minor Leaguers To Be Paid A Living Wage

Evil Congressmen Want To Make Living Wage For Minor Leaguers Illegal
Patrick Redford, Deadspin, June 29, 2016

Minor league baseball players don’t make much money. Since 1976, MLB salaries have risen 2,500 percent while minor league salaries have only gone up 70 percent. Players in low-A ball start at $1,100 a month, while AAA players earn $2,150 per month. Monthly wages slowly increase the longer a player sticks around, but they’re only paid out during the season, and players on the road receive a per diem of $25—less than half of what umpires get. Over a five-month season, only tenured AAA players make enough to clear the federal poverty line. And now, a new bill from the House of Representatives wants to limit their earning power even further.

Cheri Bustos of Illinois and Brett Guthrie of Kentucky introduced the “Save America’s Pastime Act” late last week. The bipartisan legislation—Bustos is a Democrat, Guthrie a Republican—proposes to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and create a specific exemption for minor league baseball players (who are not unionized) so that they are explicitly not guaranteed the minimum wage, and thus not allowed overtime pay. ...

The bill alleges that MiLB players need their wages locked in at poverty level and that if players start getting paid at least as much as fast food workers, grassroots minor league baseball is at risk:

If the law is not clarified, the costs to support local teams would likely increase dramatically and usher in significant cuts across the league, threatening the primary pathway to the Majors and putting teams at risk.

This is bullshit. Major league owners pay the salaries of their farm teams. MiLB teams don’t need attendance revenue to pay their players, the money comes from the top. ...

MLB is essentially selling the myth that there’s nothing more heartwarming than a cleat stomping on a human face, and politicians of both parties are here to back them. Set this bill on fire.

Also:

Here's Why The Save America's Pastime Act Is A River Of Molten Sewage
The Save America's Pastime Act is an odious piece of legislation, but you don't have to focus on the laughably low salaries to hate it.
Grant Brisbee, SB Nation, June 30, 2016

BtBS Roundtable: Why Won't MLB Pay Its Minor Leaguers?
The "Save America's Pastime Act" would ensure that minor league players continue to earn less than minimum wage. BtBS writers explain the numerous problems with the proposed legislation.
Ryan Romano, Henry Druschel, Jen Mac Ramos, and Nicolas Stellini, SB Nation, July 1, 2016

The 7,500 Apprentices
Kate Morrison, Baseball Prospectus, July 1, 2016