MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. (Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
Rob Manfred announced the cancelation of games and discussed the negotiations after the owners and players failed to reach a deal on the MLB lockout.
Rob Manfred didn’t make any new friends on Tuesday when he had to face the press and announce the results of the latest round of negotiations between the players and owners in the MLB lockout.
The gist: No new deal has been agreed upon. The lockout will continue. And games will officially be canceled.
Here’s what Manfred had to say in his opening statement…
Rob Manfred press conference: What MLB commissioner said on lockout
“I had hoped against hope that I would not have to have this particular press conference in which I am going to cancel some regular-season games. We worked hard to avoid an outcome that’s bad for our fans, bad for our players and bad for our clubs. I want to assure our fans that our failure to reach an agreement was not due to a lack of effort by either party. The players came here for nine days, they worked hard, they tried to make a deal and I appreciate their effort. Our committee of club representatives committed to the process, they offered compromise and hung in passed the deadline to make sure we exhausted every possibility of reaching an agreement before the cancellation of games. So far the parties have failed to achieve their mutual goal of reaching an agreement. The unfortunate thing, maybe the most unfortunate thing, is that agreement, the one we’ve offered to our players, offered huge benefits for our fans and for our players.”
What else did Manfred address? His comments aimed to sell fans on the owners’ proposal to the players. He also fielded questions about delays in negotiations.
Throughout the press conference, Manfred was criticized for smiling and joking while following through on canceling games, which he previously termed a “disastrous outcome.”