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SPORTS Friday 2 december 2022

Secure with 5-year deal, Clark pushes to make MLBPA stronger

By DAVID BRANDT for the guys.”
AP Sports Writer Now that the big league fi- Group E
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — nancials are settled for the 2 - 1 dec 1
Tony Clark has never had next few seasons, Clark’s JAP ESP
more clout as executive di- attention can turn to more 2 - 4 dec 1
rector of the Major League than 5,000 new union mem-
Baseball Players Associa- bers. CRC GER
tion. The sport’s minor league
The 50-year-old helped the players elected to join the
union navigate a tumultu- MLBPA in September, pav- Group F
ous stretch that included a ing the way for potentially 0 - 0 dec 1
pandemic-shortened 2020 better pay and playing CRO BEL
season and a new labor conditions for those at the 1 - 2 dec 1
deal in March that not only lower levels of professional CAN MAR
saved a full 162-game sea- baseball.
son but also was viewed as Clark who had a 15-year Major League Baseball Players Association Executive Director
at least a modest win for MLB career said conditions Tony Clark answers a question during a news conference in Group G
the players and their pock- haven’t improved much New York on March 11, 2022. dec 2
etbooks. for those minor leaguers Associated Press _ - _
Now, there’s a relative since he was working his SER SUI
calm during a baseball off- way up to the big leagues Some have argued that to ‘Bull Durham,’ the op- _ - _ dec 2
season that hasn’t been in the early 1990s. He said those low salaries have portunity both at the col- CAM BRA
seen for a few years. the MLB portion of the made it hard for profes- legiate level and in other
Baseball fans are probably union has been supportive sional baseball to attract sports are a little different.”
enjoying that normalcy, because the vast majority top athletes. Top collegiate Regarding the recently ne- Group H
but for Clark, there’s not of those players have spent programs in the SEC, ACC, gotiated big league deal, _ - _ dec 2
much time to celebrate. time in the minors. Pac-12, Big 12 and other Clark said the next step is KOR POR
“The preparation for the There are numerous issues conferences often have to find out what’s working _ - _ dec 2
next agreement never to address. better facilities and travel and what isn’t. GHA URU
stops,” he said. “When you get beyond arrangements than their It brought major changes
Clark was in Arizona on that, there are a number of minor league counterparts. that included expansion
Wednesday afternoon, things: housing, food, train- The NCAA’s new eligibility of the DH to the National
shuttling between appoint- ing.” rules allowing players to League, increasing the intact. One example: MLB

ments at the MLBPA’s win- Players with major league make money on NIL deals postseason from 10 teams recently sold its remaining
ter meetings. contracts average more have also made college to 12, advertisements on share of a streaming ser-
Two days before, the union than $4 million per year sports a more lucrative en- uniforms, a balanced vice technology company
voted to extend Clark’s and have a $700,000 mini- terprise. schedule that reduces in- called BAMTech to the
contract five more years mum salary while in the big “We hope that any num- tra-division play starting in Walt Disney Co. for $900
through 2027, putting him leagues, but salaries for ber of improvements that 2023 and measures aimed million.
in position to lead players most minor league players we’re able to make here, to incentivize competition “I’ll say this — the industry
through the entirety of their are far lower. will make it a little more en- and decrease strip-down is doing well,” Clark said.
current labor agreement MLB raised weekly mini- ticing then it might have rebuilding, such as an am- “And the industry, I be-
with owners that expires in mum salaries for minor otherwise been,” Clark ateur draft lottery. lieve, is better when all 30
December 2026. leaguers in 2021 to $400 said. “As much as it may Major League Baseball’s teams are competing to
“I’m grateful for the oppor- at rookie and short-season have been romantic to 30 teams have appeared be the last team standing.
tunity,” Clark said. “Suffice levels, $500 at Class A, $600 ride on the buses, and the to navigate the turbulent We believe that the system
it to say, I’m humbled to be at Double-A and $700 at experiences you get in the COVID-19 era with the is designed to provide that
in a position to advocate Triple-A. minor leagues, going back sport’s financial resources support.” q

NFL launches challenge to predict, prevent player injuries

NEW YORK (AP) — The NFL improve the league’s abil- this challenge will help us
is searching for a technol- ity to better anticipate inju- understand which game

ogy-driven game plan to ries and help prevent them situations have elevated

help predict and prevent and potentially lead to amounts of contact. This
player injuries on the field. tweaks to rules based on can inform rules changes
The league announced the information gathered. to improve the game.”
Thursday it is partnering “Quantifying the risk of in- The challenge, announced
with Amazon Web Service jury that players face in at the “AWS re:Invent”
on the NFL Contact De- every possible in-game conference in Las Vegas,
tection Challenge, a con- scenario is a crucial step will begin Dec. 5 with en-
test in which designers will in understanding how we tries submitted on a web-
use machine learning and can reduce that risk, and site hosted by Kaggle, a
computer vision to find new ultimately prevent injuries” leading platform for data
ways to measure and ana- said Jennifer Langton, the science competitions. The
lyze the timing, duration NFL’s Senior Vice President top finishers will be an- Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, left, passes the ball as
and frequency of player of Health and Safety Inno- nounced in March, with the Portland Trail Blazers forward Justise Winslow defends during the
contact during NFL games. vation. first-place entry receiving first half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022,
The NFL said in a release “By engaging entrants with $50,000.q in Los Angeles. Associated Press
the data collected would a wide range of expertise,