Will baseball ever adopt a salary ceiling? Of the five largest North American professional sports leagues, Major League Baseball is the only one without a salary ceiling in place.
Although we are 18 months from the expiration of the current collective agreement between the MLB and the MLB Players Association, the subject presents itself for a reason.
The two MLB commissioners Rob Manfred and director of the MLBPA Tony Clark approached BBWAA members separately on Tuesday morning, with the problem of a salary ceiling that has them both. As always, the MLBPA is vehemently against the idea.
“A ceiling does not concern a partnership. A ceiling is not to develop the game,” said Clark. “A ceiling concerns the values and benefits of the franchise. This is what a ceiling is talking about.”
The MLBPA has always tried to negotiate other ways to treat the competitive balance and the disparity of the pay by other means, although some major names in the game – especially Scott BorasThe largest baseball agent – thinks that baseball has less problem of parity than leagues such as NFL. One of the ways they have done this is to offer a pay room, to which the MLB opposed, because it would need increased income sharing so that the clubs of small markets can afford to spend over a proposed floor.
“If there are means to improve the existing system to polish some of the rough edges that exist otherwise, we have made proposals to do this. We will continue to make proposals to make it and believe that it is the best way to proceed,” said Clark. “A salary ceiling, historically, has limited contractual guarantees associated with it. It literally opposes a player against another and this is often what we share with players as the final non -competitive system. It does not reward excellence; this is undermining it from an organizational point of view. It is not a question of competitive balance. It is not a question of the fair against.
What a salary ceiling system has, however, is a ceiling and a floor, forcing all the teams to spend in a specific window. This includes NFL and NHL, which have hard capitalization systems, and NBA and MLS, which have flexible cap systems.
The salary ceiling has long been a non-start for the MLBPA, as attested with long-term damage caused by the 1994-1995 players’ strike in which the World Series were canceled. Whenever the subject appeared, as he did again today, the MLBPA quickly stopped.
Several owners this year went out and said they wanted MLB to have a ceiling system, such as the Orioles owner David Rubensteinor has at least been publicly Idea to the ideaIncluding the owner of the Yankees Hal Steinbrenner. Manfred has also spent a lot of time talking to players’ repair players. And yesterday, Manfred said on the Pat McAfee show that they must “manage” the current MLB system so that fans on the small markets, especially Pittsburgh, believe that there is a “good chance” to compete.
The union considers it to choose not to negotiate in good faith and to use a lockout as a lever to get what they want.
“Whenever we sit down at a collective negotiating table, our goal is to get a fair and equitable business,” said Clark. “I was a puppy in 1994 and 1995. I was a young player, the veterans took care of me and I was educated on the challenges and if you will remember it, it was the longest work stoppage that we have ever had on the same problem. There are no illusions of greatness with regard to our preparations for negotiation, the guarantee of understanding and appreciating the problems and what are the concerns and ensuring, beyond everything else, that we get their comments with regard to what is most important for them. Find us in a work stoppage at 12:01 p.m. December 1 of next year.
Currently, five teams exceed the $ 241 million threshold on the balance tax (CBT), otherwise known as luxury tax: Dodgers, Mits, Yankees, Phillies and Blue Jays – All Grand Market clubs. The disparity between the Dodgers and the Marlins – the highest and the highest and the lowest, respectively – CBT massage is 273.8 million dollars. It is down compared to the $ 312.7 million a few years ago, but it’s still a huge problem.
The last CBA was ratified in March 2022, and it expires after the 2026 season. If the owners become more galvanized towards pressure for a salary ceiling, it is not a typical problem which is collectively negotiated. This is something that radically modifies the landscape of the game. Thus, a long locking could be on the horizon. When the NHL and the NHLPA had a labor dispute concerning the institution of a salary ceiling, they lost all the 2004-05 season.
Another wrinkle in this area, just as players have long been against a ceiling system, the owners have long been for the implementation of a ceiling. And, due to the lockout imposed by the owner before the ratification of the current ABC, the MLB had to enter into the control of the damage in terms of repairing its relationship with the players. Thus, how Manfred is aimed at any type of change must be done with caution.
“When I speak to players, I do not try to convince them on a salary ceiling system,” said Manfred. “Literally, what I tell them is that I identified a problem in the media sector and I explained to them that the owners had to change to solve this problem. I then identified a second problem that We Need to work together and it is that there are fans on many of our markets which have the impression of having a problem of competitive balance. I never used the word “salary” inside a “ceiling”. What I tell them is to solve this competitive problem, that is to say real, we must think about the question of whether this system is the perfect system from a player’s point of view. My only objective here is not to convince them of one system or another, but to convince them that everyone goes to the table with an open mind to try to solve a problem focused on fans and that this leads to a better process of collective negotiation. “”
If Manfred and MLB go to negotiation with the idea of pushing hard for a salary ceiling system, there is no doubt that the MLBPA will fight on it. And, on the basis of the previous and history, it could lead to a long and long lockout.
“We do not know what they are going to offer. We know what they say they are interested,” said Clark. “We are going to enter a room and see what they are offering. But once you are in this system, the story suggests that whatever the player, the player can receive day 1, they may not receive day 2. History is, more lockout, more work stoppages because of this system in place.”
