North Shore business owner prepares for potential MLB lockout amid labor battle

A business owner on Pittsburgh's North Shore is preparing for a summer without baseball due to a potential Major League Baseball lockout. 

Players and owners are negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement, and the current CBA expires at 11:59 p.m. ET on Dec. 1. There is potential for this to disrupt the 2027 season, depending on how the labor battle plays out. 

"Without any baseball games, it would have a significant impact on our annual business," said Mike Sukitch, the owner of Mike's Beer Bar and the North Shore Tavern. 

He expects a full-season lockout would mean he takes a 20% hit. 

"If we do have a lockout, it'll be a tough year next year. But it's also something I'm already planning for because it's not unexpected," he said. 

For the past six months, he said he's been thinking about what a baseball-free summer would look like for his businesses. It includes cutting costs, holding off on baseball-related ad buys and finding new ways to attract people to the bar. 

"I want an entire season, but I just don't think that they will come to their senses," he said. 

A sticking point hanging over the labor battle is that owners want a salary cap and players do not. 

"As far as there being a lockout on Dec. 1, that's absolutely happening. No question about that," said KDKA Sports' Robby Incmikoski, the author of "Sacred Grounds." "The question really becomes, how long are they going to be in a lockout? If we get to say mid-January, late January, even into mid-February, then the prospect of missing games and pushing back the beginning of spring training, then it becomes a problem."

It's possible an entire season is missed, he said. 

"I don't think either side is going to allow that to happen because the league is in such a great place, and there's just way too much at stake for both sides," Incmikoski added.

Sukitch said he is not looking forward to the short-term impact a lockout could mean for his bars. He said if the owners win out and a salary cap is put into effect, he sees longer-term benefits.

"If it helps make Pirates more competitive, 30,000 people 80 times for the next 10 years is better than 20,000 people in the stands from a business perspective," he said.

The idea there would be that, out of the additional people, more head to the bars afterward.