Baseball Owners Give the Players Financial Report, Dire Predictions

ORLANDO, Fla. — Major-league club owners on Tuesday issued predictions of future “deterioration” of baseball’s finances, with operating losses that could top $150 million by 1988 if management and the union cannot come together on a plan “to safeguard” the game.

Representatives of the 26 club owners presented a five-page letter to the Major League Players Assn., outlining what management says are “financial operating problems” of the teams.

While full financial statements were not available from all clubs for 1984, the report said that 18 of 26 clubs showed operating losses totaling about $66 million in 1983. That represented an average of $2.5 million in losses per club Of the eight clubs showing a profit, five reported gains of less than $1 million.

The report said 11 clubs had returned financial statements for 1984, nine of which showed losses of more than $27 million, an average of more than $2.4 million per club.

Don Fehr, acting head of the union, said his group has asked for more details.

Tuesday’s developments were expected to lead to a more full financial disclosure by teams, a move that is unprecedented and that owners have resisted in the past. By federal labor law, if a management bargaining team claims financial inability to meet union demands, management must prove the contention.