The end of MLB\u2019s CBA is nearing in December 2026, leaving one more regular season before another lockout could well arrive. Negotiations are likely to start no later than next summer, and both sides are laying the groundwork.<\/p>\n
Touting the importance of improving MLB franchise values, Manfred wants to overhaul MLB\u2019s media rights and revenue-sharing systems. He also continually hints that he could push for a salary cap as part of those changes.<\/p>\n
The revenue-split system Manfred described is typical in other major North American sports leagues, where it is also part and parcel to a cap. But a firm limit on player spending has always been anathema to the MLB Players Association.<\/p>\n
Manfred has remained noncommittal when asked what he plans to propose. But no matter the specific approach, player buy-in will make any change Manfred pursues easier, and he\u2019s been lobbying for it.<\/p>\n
Manfred has met with virtually every team annually for three seasons now, an effort that he said originated after the way the last lockout ended in March 2022. Back then, the union\u2019s eight-player executive subcommittee \u2014 a group that works closely with union officials like Clark \u2014 voted against accepting the current labor deal, which MLB proposed. But almost all of the other 30 player voters, one representative from each team, held a different opinion. The final vote was 26-12 to accept the deal, ending the lockout.<\/p>\n
That result is what Manfred said led him to believe there\u2019s a disconnect between union and player thinking.<\/p>\n
In the player meetings, Manfred said he starts players with a rhetorical question: \u201cWhat does the current system do for players?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the last 20 years, the slowest growing salaries among the four major professional sports: baseball,\u201d Manfred says. \u201cAnd when I make that point, what I usually say to the players: \u2018To me, that that\u2019s a failure on our part.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The arguments that follow then all seem like a nudge toward a cap. One point, he acknowledged, can fall on deaf ears when presented to players with big salaries.<\/p>\n
\u201cTen percent of our players earn 72 percent of the money,\u201d the commissioner says for his second point. \u201cI usually try to avoid the high-earning guy at this point and find a younger player and say, \u2018Look, if you\u2019re one of the 10 percent, it\u2019s a great deal. But if you\u2019re the other 90, it ain\u2019t so good.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t immediately clear how MLB calculated those figures.<\/p>\n
Manfred\u2019s third point goes after the lack of a signing deadline during free agency, another feature of other major sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have free agency, it\u2019s about a month, there\u2019s lots of bidders, it\u2019s a great marketing opportunity for the sport, players have their choice of where to go, all positive,\u201d Manfred says. \u201cOur free agency is like the Bataan Death March. It starts the day after the World Series. And in February, really, really good players are still wandering around the landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n
In baseball, players and agents have long feared a signing deadline would be used to effectively lowball players. Most other sports have deadlines. But in cap systems, determining which player receives what salary amount is a little more akin to a game of musical chairs. The overall split of revenue is predetermined.<\/p>\n
The last point Manfred makes is the one that suggests players have hurt themselves over time.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy first deal where I was the chief negotiator in 2002, we were spending 63 percent of our revenue on players,\u201d Manfred said. \u201cToday, we spend about 47 percent on players.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018So what does that mean?\u2019 I said, \u2018The math means you are getting \u2014 you, the players \u2014 are getting a smaller and smaller percentage of each dollar.\u2019 And in fact, if we had made the deal 10 years ago to share (revenue) 50-50, you would have made two and a half billion dollars more than you made.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clark questioned MLB\u2019s figures generally.<\/p>\n
\u201cMLB\u2019s sales pitch, full of misleading or downright false statements, is coupled with their already announced intention to shut down the sport unless they get their way,\u201d Clark\u2019s statement concluded. \u201cPlayers\u2019 goal remains to continue to protect and improve the health of the sport, advance and protect the rights of players at all levels, and make the game as competitive as possible for the good of the game and the people who love it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Union head Tony Clark does not agree with Manfred\u2019s figures, nor his message. (Sean M. Haffey \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Manfred has not definitively said the owners will initiate another lockout at the end of the CBA. But officials across the industry universally expect one, and Manfred has made public comments that strongly suggest another is coming. The commissioner has made multiple references to offseason lockouts as \u201cthe norm\u201d in professional sports.<\/p>\n
Until the investor call, Manfred had typically been more publicly reserved on labor since the last lockout. The June event put him in front of a different audience than a typical press conference, however. But Manfred was also aware the event could be viewed by the general public.<\/p>\n