Mar 21 2009
Baseball Players Try to Stop Donations
The Major League Baseball Players Association has filed a grievance against MLB Commissioner Bud Selig to remove language in some players’ contracts that required charitable donations. The MLBPA maintains that players received no benefit from the donations. A MLB spokesperson said the language mandating contributions was freely negotiated between some teams and some players.
Should no settlement be reached, an arbitator will hear the case and make a decision. As usual, MLB shows it has little public relations skill. Most athletes and celebrities can’t advertise their donations enough. MLB never discusses the money raised for charity.
The National Football League, for instance, has a long-standing arrangement with the United Way. The National Basketball Association established NBA Cares. The Professional Golfers Association and the Ladies Professional Golf Association donate to local charities at every tournament. Plenty of individuals have created charitable foundations.
Giving has decreased. The need for help has increased. Surely, baseball players realize that demanding their donations be refunded will be a PR nightmare. I’d say they have to know that claiming there’s no benefit in giving some money to charity is a foolish statement. But if they did know it, the people they elected to lead their union wouldn’t have said it.
But from a PR standpoint, there is a difference between being able to say that you gave $1 million and that your contract forced you to donate $1 million.
Also, I’m sure that the players are not going to try to take back donations that they already made. If anything, they’ll try to make MLB give them backpay for those donations.