President Trump says he’s not interested in this year’s World Series between the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays, two teams that have some of the lowest payrolls and smallest markets in the sport.
Speaking with reporters to discuss his fraud reporting incentive program, Mr. Trump fielded several questions about the World Series and looming Major League Baseball lockout.
“I better not get involved,” Mr. Trump said when asked about the World Series.
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When the reporter followed up by asking about the fact that two teams with some of the lowest salaries in baseball are facing off, Mr. Trump quickly cut off the reporter.
“All right. Let’s do it another time. Nobody cares,” Mr. Trump responded.
He did predict that a lockout will occur next season.
“That is going to happen,” he said.
The primary issue threatening a potential lockout next year is a disagreement between players and owners over a proposed salary cap. Owners are calling for a salary cap and salary floor that would require teams to reach a certain payroll threshold, arguing that the sport has become difficult to turn a profit because of soaring payrolls. Players say the salary cap is an artificial restriction on player earnings and market freedom.
Earlier this year, Mr. Trump made it clear that baseball should impose a salary cap and should have done so “a long time ago.”
“If you don’t have a salary cap, you don’t have a sport. Because they can’t help themselves. You know, in sports they can’t help themselves,” Mr. Trump told reporters. “They should have done it a long time ago.”
This year’s World Series has intensified the debate over a salary cap after the Brewers swept the Los Angeles Dodgers, who were coming off back-to-back titles with one of the sport’s largest payrolls. Other teams with high payrolls, including the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies, were eliminated early in the playoffs.
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