Palm Beach, Florida – Whether to continue a salary ceiling was a central subject for the owners of Major League Baseball this week during meetings in Florida, people informed of the discussions said. No decision should be made when meetings end on Thursday, but the league office and the owners throw a “hard look” where they want to go to economics and work, said an informed person.
“Try to focus on everyone on what will be the goal of work,” said the person.
Opinions among the owners are mixed, people informed of the discussions have indicated, but time remains. The collective negotiation agreement expires after the 2026 season.
In the void, all the owners would probably support a salary ceiling for the cost control it provides. Some owners are deterred in practice, however, by the long work stoppage which should make one. The association of Major Baseball baseball players has long opposed a ceiling, and many missed matches could ensue if the owners are aggressively. However, not all owners are right to go back.
The disparity of income between smaller and larger market teams, a long -standing discussion in baseball remains a subject of discussion. Some owners also believe that a ceiling would also reduce complaints from the pays for payroll. Today, if an owner spends – see the Los Angeles dodgers, which have around 353 million dollars on the luxury payroll For 2025 – other owners are intrinsically confronted with pressure to do the same, and sometimes the criticism of not doing it.
This week’s discussions have also exceeded the potential of a ceiling. Commissioner Rob Manfred wants to change the way the league manages TV distribution. As part of this effort, he wants to considerably modify income sharing, the way the teams share money between them. These are difficult problems Politically among the clubs, a ceiling could help to smooth. But Manfred could also continue changes in the sharing of income without ceiling.
The owners’ meetings occur three to four times a year in baseball, and they had special importance in Manfred’s time as a commissioner.
“I worked very hard to make the meetings of the major leagues significant for the owners, significant in the sense of being a two -way communication. And that the centerpiece is transparency,” said Manfred in an interview last month. “For decades, (when) we were going to meet major leagues, it would essentially be the staff who would make relationships to the owners. It was a very passive process. The part of the major league meetings that count the most is, I go by myself with the 30 guys. This is where things really happen.”
Several owners and managers of this offseason have publicly pushed the idea of a more vague cap, or at least open the door to the conference.
David Rubenstein, owner of Baltimore Orioles, David Rubenstein Last month said to Yahoo Finance that he wanted baseball to have a cap.
Meanwhile, New York Mets Baseball Chairman David Stearns, who has negotiated the team of $ 765 million $ 765 million from the team with Juan Soto this winter, recently told CNBC that a conversation on the closure of “spending shortcomings” should continue.
“According to most baseball metrics, we have in fact had a fairly decent competitive balance over the past decade. We did not have parity in expenses “,” Stearns said. “And so I think there is a conversation that must occur and is underway, in terms of importance for baseball to fill some of these shortcomings.”
Steve Greenberg of Allen and Company, who often represents the MLB teams in their sales processes, said Athletics These baseball franchise values suffer from those of other sports due to the economic system.
“The perception around baseball is that without a salary ceiling, its values will be late, at least behind the NFL and the NBA, and this was the case,” said Greenberg. “We will see what is happening in Rob’s final negotiation.”
Regardless of the exact negotiation priorities that owners of the owners, another lockout probably appears when the ABC expires at midnight in December 2, 2026. Manfred said that the offshooter locks should be considered a new standard.
“In a bizarre way, it’s actually a positive”, ” He said last month. “There is a lever effect associated with an off-season lockout and the collective negotiation process within the framework of the NLRA on the basis of the lever effect. The great thing about the lockout of intersane is the lever effect that exists is applied between the negotiation parties. ”
MLBPA executive director Tony Clark disagreed in a declaration to Athletics.
“Players know through first-hand experience that a lockout is neither routine nor positive,” said Clark. “It is a weapon, clear and simple, implemented to put pressure on players and their families by removing the capacity of a player to work.”
Clark said in former players would not accept a cap.
(Photo of Manfred and Clark: Ron Blum / Associated Press)
