Commentary: Players Association was established
(Original article was written in Czech by Ján Jabrocký, English version contains small additions and clarifications)
ČBA web page brought a news, stating Czech Players Association (CPA) was established in May 2020. The page also outlines the base goals of the association.
The document (CZ only) created during the talks mentions the three main topics, which the founding members want to push through. They are the players’ workload, league system, and transfers. It would seem Czech baseball is heading towards an interesting conversation, which could determine its future.
One of the topics CPA wants to support is creation of B teams, effectively creating a farm system for the teams in Extraliga. It is, however, possible, the teams from First League will be against it, as they were known to criticize this concept in the past. One of their main concerns was the free movement of players between A and B teams, which could potentially lead to a disadvantage for the unassociated teams. It is possible, it would make more sense to create a status of “farm team” (or minors team), however, we will write more on this topic in the offseason.
CPA further suggests playing more games during the workdays. This would allow to avoid cramping all the games into Fridays and weekdays, giving the teams one free weekend day. With well spread schedule, it could also mean, there is a game of baseball played most of the days of the week, giving the fans more non-overlapping games to watch. Curently, however, there are only four Extraliga teams (Arrows, Draci, Eagles, Olympia), who have lights available for the night games (you can see the overview of Czech baseball parks here). CPA notes this, asking ČBA to “show a long-term support for the night games, by building lighting in more baseball parks”.
Přidejte se do našeho fóra na Discordu. Rozebíráme v něm aktuální dění v Extralize, MLB, ale také v dalších světových soutěžích. Stačí kliknout na
https://discord.gg/rDMECf8
Furthermore, CPA also suggests Sunday to be a free day, where Extraliga would not be played. The author does not fully support this suggestion, as perhaps it would be more plausible to play only one game on Sunday. The single game could have the focus of the baseball community, being televised with a commentary, so that more fans can see the baseball beside the team they support. The same principle could apply to at least one Friday game.
Another goal comes in resctructuring format of the post season. CPA suggests the results from regular season to be taken into consideration in TOP6 games, as well as cancelling Wild Card games, and keeping the semifinal format, the way the league was played this year. CPA would also like to see the series for 5th place. The suggested free player movement (akin to free agency in MLB), could, however, be a source of controversy. It is difficult to see teams that are trying to battle for their spot in Extraliga voluntarily letting their best players leave. This has also potential to lead to a decreased quality of the Promotion League games.
An interesting suggestion comes in a form of “spreading the league” to more months, so that we could see the league finishing in late September or October. There’s a weather and temperature considerations, but this could once again bring more games to watch for the fans, as fewer games would overlap.
The free movement of the players above 28 years is an interesting topic on its own. It seems that it still needs to be flashed out more, as the plan suggests “the player of age 28 or more becomes a free agent and can freely move between clubs” currently does not provide many details. It is peculiar to use the age as the only criteria for the free agency. Perhaps we could see more added later on, such as a number of games played for the team. We are certainly interested in the discussion on this front.
Nevertheless, Player Association is a good step forward for Czech baseball, which can bring more interesting ideas and solutions.
