As Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association continue early discussions regarding a new collective bargaining agreement, the union is digging in its heels on the thing owner want most: a salary cap.
Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that, according to MLBPA interim executive director Bruce Meyer, “players would actually be taking a $500 million paycut if they accepted MLB’s salary cap proposal.”
Advertisement
Meyer also “reiterated that they will never agree to a salary cap,” Nightengale added.
Union has fought salary cap ‘for decades’
“That’s something this union has fought against for decades, based on our belief that it’s bad for players at all levels,” Meyer said, Nightengale quoted him as saying in his USA Today article. “And not just monetarily, bad for freedom, bad for competition, eliminates truly guaranteed money. Bad, bad for the fans, in our view, bad for players at every level, particularly bad for the middle class. …
“Fundamentally, that system is anti-competitive. It’s a form of institutionalized collusion.”
Brownsburg, IN – December 2: An Official Rawlings Major League Baseball sits with a bat, lock and chain to represent the lockout between Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) on December 2, 2021 in Brownsburg, IN. (Photo by James Black/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The league responded quickly to Meyer’s comments.
Advertisement
“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,’’ MLB spokesperson Glen Caplin said. “Under our proposal, Major League players will receive more compensation in Year 1 of the system than in 2026. We are ready to listen if the MLBPA wants to counter our proposal at the bargaining table.”
The sport’s stars have also sounded off on the topic, though many of them, like the Philadelphia Phillies’ Bryce Harper, said the most important thing is that baseball continues to be played.
“We’re coming from two different areas, but we both have to understand our game is in a great position right now to succeed, and we can’t lose that momentum,” Harper told ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez on Sunday. “We can’t lose that momentum as players. We can’t lose that momentum as owners. So wherever we’re at — whatever they’re coming with, whatever we’re coming with — you have to come to an agreement before any of that happens because there’s other things to do. It’s not like ’94, where there was nothing else to do. It’s not just, ‘Oh, baseball’s here.’ No, there’s a lot of other things to do than just watch baseball.”
