WASHINGTON, March 10 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Thursday issued the following statement after the Major League Baseball lockout ended:
“I’m delighted to see an agreement reached so that the Major League Baseball season can start. But the recent and unacceptable behavior of MLB’s owners has taught us some very important lessons that cannot be ignored. We are dealing with an organization controlled by a number of billionaires who collectively are worth over $100 billion. It should be clear to all that these baseball oligarchs have shown that they are far more concerned about increasing their wealth and profits than in strengthening our national pastime.
“These are baseball oligarchs who negotiated in bad faith for more than 100 days in a blatant attempt to break the players’ union. These are baseball oligarchs who, over the last year, eliminated their affiliation with over 40 minor league teams, not only causing needless economic pain and suffering, but also breaking the hearts of fans in small and mid-sized towns all over America. These are baseball oligarchs who continue to pay minor league players totally inadequate wages and want to eliminate the jobs of another 900 minor league players. These are baseball oligarchs who receive billions of dollars in corporate welfare from taxpayers to build expensive stadiums. These are baseball oligarchs who, in many cases, charge outrageously high prices for tickets that many working class families cannot afford.
“It would be wrong for Congress to simply celebrate today’s agreement and move on. We must prevent the greed of baseball’s oligarchs from destroying the game. The best way to do that is to end Major League Baseball’s antitrust exemption and I will be introducing legislation to do just that.”