TORONTO — Main League Baseball Gamers Affiliation govt director Tony Clark on Friday mentioned “there’s a whole lot of work to be executed” by MLB within the wake of one other sports activities playing scandal hitting the NBA this week.
Talking earlier than Sport 1 of the World Collection at Rogers Centre, Clark reiterated that he’s involved concerning the issues sports activities playing presents to gamers, together with security worries as threats directed at gamers from gamblers mount.
Clark pointed to the day the Supreme Court docket overturned the Skilled and Newbie Sports activities Safety Act in 2018 — giving states the go-ahead to legalize betting on sports activities — saying the union had gamers “inside 24 hours attain out suggesting they have been immediately being adopted by playing websites and different entities.”
“It is only a totally different world,” Clark mentioned. “So each time, once more, one thing occurs, yeah, our considerations grow to be better and everybody on some degree acknowledged that the world was going to be totally different.”
MLB has confronted a number of scandals in recent times as sports activities playing has grow to be extra prevalent throughout the US in recent times. Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz have been on non-disciplinary paid go away since July as a part of the league’s investigation into sports activities playing. Final yr, outfielder Tucupita Marcano was banned for all times for putting bets on baseball video games. In February, umpire Pat Hoberg was fired for violating the league’s playing guidelines.
“We work intently with the league to make sure the protection and well-being of our gamers,” Clark mentioned. “So that continues to be entrance and heart. That alone, with the educating of our gamers, ensuring that they perceive what they will and may’t do is constant and fixed. However relaxation assured each time there is a state of affairs that arises associated to playing, the priority does not reduce. It will get better.”
Clark additionally confused the union stays 100% in opposition to implementing a wage cap within the subsequent collective bargaining settlement and that the Dodgers profitable back-to-back titles wouldn’t materially change negotiations for the following collective bargaining settlement, calling that prospect “a whole lot of chatter.”
The Dodgers search to grow to be the primary membership to repeat as champions for the reason that Yankees received three consecutive titles from 1998 by way of 2000.
“The sky was falling because the Yankees repeated,” Clark mentioned. “Right here we’re almost 30 years later and the business has grown exponentially. The concept there’s excellence among the many golf equipment, you tip your hat to these golf equipment. There’s alternatives for all 30 groups to be glorious. Some are investing in that excellence. Some aren’t.”
The Dodgers’ payroll and luxurious tax penalties this season are a mixed $509 million, by far essentially the most in baseball. The Blue Jays’ $242 million payroll this season ranked fifth. After profitable the Nationwide League pennant, Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts made headlines by addressing critics of the crew’s spending, joking that they wanted 4 extra wins to “actually destroy baseball.”
“The query for me can be is who’s working to create the narrative that’s difficult the excellence that we’re seeing,” Clark mentioned.