Enough about the players and owners — What’s the impact of the Major League Baseball lockout on the average fan?
If it lasts long enough, the ultimate punishment would be that the 2022 season would be wiped out: No spring training, no regular season, no playoffs, and we’re on to 2023.
Before any fan has to face that grim prospect, the lockout imposed by commissioner Rob Manfred and the owners has already created ripples in the following areas:
Hot stove season over and out
Unless your team was part of the free agent and trading frenzy leading up to the lockout deadline, you’ll have all winter to wonder about your team’s transaction and improvement plans.
The rumor mill will be mothballed. Brace yourself instead for baseball stories starring the CBT, revenue sharing, service time manipulation, and strongly worded communiques from owners and players.
MLB will tell its story differently
The league’s media presence — MLB Network, MLB.com, and the 30 team websites — is large, and because it is owned primarily by a sports league that has locked out its primary content source, it has to change how it covers itself.
The scrubbing of headshots and the new faceless avatars that grace rosters on MLB websites have received a great deal of attention. The switch was not punitive, according to the league, but done to comply with federal labor laws as they pertain to the league’s use of the name, image, and likeness of its players.
“Every action we are taking is at the advice of legal counsel per the National Labor Relations Act,” said an MLB spokesperson.
Per the league, its network personalities and writers will cover breaking news, including CBA developments. In some instances, discussions of current players can take place, but stories and commentary will not be focused on player-centric content such as a profile of how Bryce Harper is spending his offseason or Fernando Tatis highlights.
The Baseball Hall of Fame election talk will likely experience a bump in airtime. The network will also emphasize its archival programming, such as airing classic games. Those broadcast rights are governed by the league’s copyright ownership and not the expired collective bargaining agreement, the league said.
It’s still relatively early in the Bruins season at NESN, owned mostly by the Red Sox’ parent company, Fenway Sports Group. Still, Red Sox player likenesses have mostly been scrubbed on-air and online, a NESN spokesperson said.
Sale of player merchandise continues
A Xander Bogaerts all-weather cornhole bag set and Chris Sale can cooler are still on sale at the Red Sox’ website. Like prior TV programming, the league said that products featuring players’ names, images, and likenesses will still be available, with those products holding NIL rights independent from the expired CBA.
Ticket sales continue with different marketing
The Red Sox won’t be able to market the return of Jackie Bradley Jr. or feature Sale, Bogaerts, or anyone else on the team in order to drum up interest in tickets to spring training and regular-season games.
Instead, generic shots of Fenway Park show up on the Red Sox’ online ticket site, where mostticket sales are taking place as scheduled, with Sox Pax tickets going on sale later this month.
Single-game spring training tickets will go on sale next month, a month later than previous years, but the Red Sox said that the timing is a result of lessons learned from the pandemic and not from the lockout.
Red Sox front office employees will continue to work as usual, even if it’s not business as usual.
Boston Baseball Writers dinner canceled
Canceled last year by COVID-19, the 82nd edition won’t take place — a head table of only baseball scribes might not create a ticket stampede. The decision was made jointly by the Boston BBWAA chapter and its dinner partner, The Sports Museum.
“It would have been nice to have a dinner this year after having missed last year, but even if the lockout is lifted in January we wouldn’t have had time to pull it together,” said The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey, the chapter chair. She cited lingering concerns over COVID-19 as also factoring into the decision.
Players will receive their 2021 awards in pregame ceremonies — pending the season.
It’s still unclear if the lockout will force the cancellation of the Red Sox’ Winter Weekend at MGM Springfield casino. That event is scheduled to take place each year after the writers’ dinner.
Michael Silverman can be reached at michael.silverman@globe.com.