Last week provided an early preview of the expected forthcoming offseason lockout. The MLB Players Association made its first collective bargaining proposal to the league on Wednesday. MLB countered with its initial proposal one day later, one that confirmed the longstanding expectation that the league is looking to incorporate a salary cap/floor system in the next CBA.
Readers can find the details of each side’s proposal at the above linked posts. Neither has a chance of being approved by the opposite party. They’re notable only insofar as they provide an insight into each side’s priorities as negotiations get underway. It behooves both to stake out maximalist stances this early in the process.
MLBPA executive director Bruce Meyer held a video chat with reporters (including Alden González of ESPN and Evan Drellich of The Athletic) on Monday afternoon. Unsurprisingly, Meyer was less than enthused with what the league put forward. “I thought they would try harder to make it look good, and they didn’t even do that.”
Meyer reiterated the union’s firm opposition to a salary cap, which he called “a form of institutionalized collusion.” MLB’s proposal included what the league deemed to be a 50-50 revenue split between players and ownership. That reportedly would’ve included a $245.3MM cap and $171.2MM floor. A portion of player salaries would be held in escrow in case the league underperformed revenue expectations to maintain the 50-50 balance. The NHL and NBA have used similar setups.
“Using MLB’s definition of revenue and player share as set forth in their proposal and their presentation to us, player share under their proposal would go down,” Meyer said. “Player share for this season, 2026, is projected to be well over 50%, using, again MLB’s definitions of revenues and what counts against player share.” He claimed that if the league’s proposal had been in place for the 2026 season, players would have made roughly $500MM less than they actually will.
League spokesman Glen Caplin responded to Meyer’s comments via a prepared statement. “Our salary cap-and-floor proposal addresses our fans’ concerns by leveling the playing field while sharing baseball revenue with the players 50-50 like the other leagues. Under our proposal, major league players will receive more compensation in year one of the system than in 2026,” Caplin said. That’d ostensibly be due to the need for various teams to raise payroll to meet the salary floor.
The union would presumably dispute that assertion. It also seems notable that Caplin’s statement specified “major league players” while Meyer focused on “player share” more broadly. Meyer said the union anticipates the league will propose cuts to spending on amateur signing bonuses, though he added that MLB has not yet done so. “They projected MLB players’ payroll in ’27, ’28, would be flat,” he noted. “The only way to get to even those numbers would be to drastically reduce or eliminate amateur entry compensation, both domestic and international.”
MLB has traditionally looked to curtail spending on amateur players in previous bargaining agreements. The Players Association doesn’t formally represent them until they enter professional ball. The PA does take amateur players into account, as a player’s initial signing bonus can impact their later professional earnings. A player who signs for a modest bonus as an amateur may be more inclined to lock in earnings on an early-career contract extension, for example. That can have a trickle-down effect on free agency.
There’s nevertheless a tension for the Players Association between balancing the interests of amateur and minor league players — the latter of whom are now under the MLBPA umbrella after unionizing in 2022 — against those of major leaguers. The MLBPA had traditionally been willing to make concessions on tightening amateur spending (e.g. accepting hard caps on international bonus pools in 2016) for more immediate benefits for big leaguers. They started to move away from that under the ’22 agreement — most notably in rejecting the league’s offer to agree to an international amateur draft in exchange for the elimination of the qualifying offer, which adds penalties for teams that sign certain free agents.
Interested readers can find more of Meyer’s comments in the linked pieces from ESPN and The Athletic. Jeff Passan of ESPN notes that commissioner Rob Manfred is likely to meet with the media on Wednesday at the end of the quarterly owners meetings. It stands to reason Manfred will restate some of the league’s talking points and provide a response to Meyer’s media session.
It’s worth reiterating that public combativeness on both sides was always to be expected. The 2021-22 lockout featured months of this kind of squabbling. This set of negotiations is likely to be even more contentious. MLB is making its first formal cap push since the 1994-95 players strike; the players’ initial proposal called for a much higher luxury tax threshold and far more revenue sharing that’ll be opposed by bigger-market clubs.
Caplin’s statement added that the league is “ready to listen if the MLBPA wants to counter our proposal at the bargaining table.” Meyer said no talks have currently been scheduled but would be soon, even if to negotiate on areas aside from core economics.
