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Elephant Rumblings: A’s to receive revenue sharing again under new CBA

MLB news roundup

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Spring Training Baseball 2012 Photo by Jim Sugar/Corbis via Getty Images

Happy Friday, Athletics Nation!

This salutation contains more enthusiasm than usual, given that after 99 days of excruciatingly glacial CBA negotiations, the MLB lockout has finally ended! On top of that, the new agreement came with especially good news for the A’s: they will receive revenue sharing once again, report Susan Slusser and Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle.

This development isn’t exactly a surprise, as rumor began a couple weeks ago that Oakland might be re-added to the list of revenue sharing recipients. Now it’s official, though how much the organization will receive and how the money will be spent both remain to be seen.

The A’s were phased out of revenue sharing in the 2016 CBA; that year, they received more than $30 million. From there, the revenue share was reduced by 25 percent each year until 2020, when the team stopped receiving the funds altogether.

From 2016 through 2019 the A’s payroll remained near the bottom of the league despite the revenue sharing they received, continuing their long-term reputation as meager spenders. The organization’s thrifty ways even led to the MLBPA filing a grievance against the A’s in 2018, claiming they had not invested revenue sharing funds in improving the on-field product in accordance with the spirit of the arrangement. The league requested that the union drop their grievance in the latest CBA talks, but the players refused — perhaps this continued pressure will prompt the A’s to funnel more shared revenue toward payroll in the future?

Slusser and Kawahara also reported that the revenue share is tied to reaching an agreement by early 2024 to build a new stadium — in Oakland or elsewhere, though there aren’t yet details on the specifics of this clause.

Ideally, the A’s would not need this funding, and hopefully they are on the right track to get off the dole someday in a new stadium. But in the near future, this could provide a nice shot in the arm and help the team rebuild faster — or maybe even hang in there and vie for one of the dozen playoff spots available starting this year.

Baseball is back!!! Have a great weekend, AN.

A’s Coverage:

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Funny because it rings so true.

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Just 44, way too young. Rest In Power.

FanFest this Saturday!

Needless to say, I am over the moon at having something other than the lockout to write about.

Looks like players can more freely cash in on some of that “bad at math” tax.

IMO2, Melissa.

No more at-bats for Kap.

So many quality tweets yesterday! A celebratory frenzy.