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Tony Clark: Teams won't pay luxury tax if season is canceled

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Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Tony Clark shed some more light on Friday's deal with the league that addresses issues the 2020 season may face due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Clark said the luxury tax won't be enforced if the season is canceled. It remains unclear whether tax thresholds would reset following a canceled season.

Additionally, Clark said both sides are open to the idea of increasing roster sizes during a shortened 2020 season, according to Evan Drellich of The Athletic.

Players are united in their desire to play as close to a 162-game schedule as possible, Clark added. That includes possibly playing the All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium as scheduled.

"The players are open to having a discussion about just about everything," Clark said, according to Drellich. "Obviously the calendar is going to dictate a lot of what can and cannot be done. But right now no door is closed."

When asked about playing regular-season games in empty stadiums, Clark said the "possibility exists," according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

"We haven't discussed a number," Clark said when asked how many games would have to be lost to cancel the season, according to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. "We are remaining as optimistic as we can."

"There are a number of moving pieces involved around the resumption of play," he added. "A number of those pieces are tied to local, state, and federal regulations. ... We will be involved in all of those discussions."

Other things included in the agreement were that players will continue accruing service time at the same rate they did in 2019 if this season is shortened, and that money is being advanced to players to cover their first two months of salary.

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