In Iowa, Bernie Sanders fights to preserve minor league baseball

[Uncle Joe]

(snip)

Sanders recalled bringing a minor league affiliate to Burlington, Vermont, when he was mayor there in the 1980s. It brought “a sense of community” to the city, he said — an argument echoed by Kim Parker, general manager of the Burlington Bees of Iowa. The Bees, LumberKings and Quad Cities River Bandits were represented at Sanders’ roundtable discussion. All three would lose affiliation under the MLB’s restructuring proposal.

(snip)

“If you take away baseball, this city will collapse economically,” he said. “I believe that.”

To these communities, baseball is more than just a business’ bottom line, Sanders said. That’s why Congress provides Major League Baseball with cutouts to anti-trust laws, and local governments give teams “hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate welfare” through stadium financing deals, Sanders said.

(snip)

The support for local issues perked up some likely caucusgoers at a Burlington event Saturday night. Denise and Dan Moore, of Fort Madison, went to see Sanders, hoping to get a better sense of his priorities and campaign organization. Among other platforms that struck them, his attention to their local minor league team helped to elevate him on the couple’s candidate preferences.

(snip)

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2019/12/15/bernie-sanders-goes-after-mlb-commissioner-rob-manfred-fight-minor-league-baseball/2658711001/

Mom, apple pie and baseball.

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. ...

[Uncle Joe]

2. It will be interesting to see how Bernie performs in the

42 communities under threat of losing their minor league baseball teams and apparently now all minor league teams around the nation.

(snip)

On Friday night, the Los Angeles Times reported that MLB officials threatened to scrap the entire existing minor league system and build its own. Shortly after, Sanders released a letter to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred saying he was “outraged” at the reported threat, and reminded Manfred that he promised to negotiate “in good faith” with the minor leagues.

“Threatening to walk away from the entire minor league system is the exact opposite of negotiating in good faith,” Sanders wrote.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2019/12/15/bernie-sanders-goes-after-mlb-commissioner-rob-manfred-fight-minor-league-baseball/2658711001/

I have a gut feel that many "will come."

[Eliot Rosewater]

3. I havent read their reasoning, I admit I assumed the MLB ran the clubs that were in

AAA ball and so on.

I admit I dont understand who they are negotiating with.

Players not being paid enough to live on, paid by who? The MLB team that owns them, right?

[Uncle Joe]

5. The MLB is negotiating with the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues

A little more info on this link.

Can baseball help Bernie Sanders hit a 2020 home run?

(snip)

Defending low-profile ball clubs in far-flung places more fervently than anyone in the crowded Democratic presidential field allows Sanders to potentially win over a largely untapped 2020 constituency: baseball fans.

(snip)

“The guys who own the teams are billionaires,'' Sanders said in an interview, adding that baseball ``is not an institution that is hurting financially. And you can see that by, just in the last few weeks, seeing major league teams signing star baseball players for as much (as) $324 million.”

(snip)

“He’s the only one I hear talking about it,” said J.D. Scholten, who pitched professionally in Canada and for Iowa’s independent Sioux City Explorers. Scholten challenged longtime Republican Rep. Steve King in 2018 and is trying again to unseat him.

“I think it kind of fits into his overall message of, right now, a lot of the way our lives are being shaped by wealthy people who are dictating a lot of these things at the top, and the people at the bottom are being left behind,” said Scholten, who also played basketball this past week with another White House hopeful, businessman Andrew Yang.

(snip)

https://www.ksl.com/article/46691131/can-baseball-help-bernie-sanders-hit-a-2020-home-run

[ritapria]

4. MLB is threatening to get rid of the AA Team

he helped bring to Burlington when he was that town's Mayor , The Vermont Lake Monsters

[Uncle Joe]

6. Along with 41 other teams around the country and from what I understand

possibly all of their minor league teams getting rid of the entire system.

[ritapria]

7. That is true

During 2 Bernie town hall meetings this weekend in Iowa Trump nuts have screamed and hollered on behalf of their Dear Leader ...I just saw one such asshole make an utter fool of himself ..As for MLB, they have to cut down on costs . They had to scrape by on a 1.5 billion profit last year - money , in many instances , derived from tax payer funded stadiums …

[Uncle Joe]

8. At only 1.5 billion in profit, they might qualify for food stamps,

they already got corporate welfare.