{"id":725189,"date":"2026-06-09T13:11:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T13:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/725189\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T13:11:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T13:11:12","slug":"the-athletics-fan-survey-on-mlb-mlbpa-negotiations-salary-caps-payroll-disparity-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/725189\/","title":{"rendered":"The Athletic\u2019s Fan Survey on MLB-MLBPA negotiations: Salary caps, payroll disparity and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Major<\/p>\n

The sides are no currently further than the first inning of what is likely to be a lengthy battle. Michael M. Santiago \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

June 9, 2026 6:30 am EDT Updated <\/p>\n

Fans don\u2019t have a seat at the table in Major League Baseball\u2019s labor negotiations. Still, fan sentiment has been frequently cited in recent weeks as the league and the players\u2019 union have begun talks<\/a> ahead of the Dec. 1 expiration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.<\/p>\n

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred cited fan concerns<\/a> about competitive balance as the league put forth a proposal for a salary cap. League spokesperson Glen Caplin said<\/a>, \u201cToo many fans in too many markets have too little hope their team has a fair chance to win.\u201d Bruce Meyer, interim head of the MLBPA, pointed out that when teams decide not to spend, they grow the sport\u2019s payroll disparity. \u201cCaps don\u2019t lower ticket prices for fans, eliminate tanking or ensure teams are run with equal competence,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cThey suffocate competition by offering owners an all-purpose excuse for inaction and mediocrity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sides are no further than the first inning<\/a> of what is likely to be a lengthy battle. Throughout the negotiations, we\u2019ll poll readers \u2014\u00a0as we did this spring<\/a> \u2014 to assess how baseball fans are feeling about the current topics and proposals on the table and in the news.<\/p>\n

In its initial proposal<\/a>, the union sought to add a soft salary floor of $150 million, raise the first luxury-tax threshold, increase revenue sharing for small-market teams, set a minimum arbitration salary ($3 million) and nearly double ($1.5 million) the minimum salary for major leaguers.<\/p>\n

The league countered<\/a> with a hard salary cap of $245.3 million and a $171.2 million floor, a 50-50 split of revenues and a centralizing of local media revenues that could eliminate local TV blackouts.<\/p>\n

Because those numbers are only opening offers, and likely far from where the sides would be willing to land, we\u2019ll focus more on the core elements of the economic proposals than the exact figures.<\/p>\n

As always, thanks for participating.<\/p>\n

\"Connections:\"Connections:<\/p>\n

Jun 9, 2026<\/p>\n

Connections: Sports Edition<\/p>\n

Spot the pattern. Connect the terms<\/p>\n

Find the hidden link between sports terms<\/p>\n

Play today’s puzzle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The sides are no currently further than the first inning of what is likely to be a lengthy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":714407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[592,5654,4996,64,63,1186,5156,5158,5256,5257,5258,5259,5260,5163,5261,5262,1187,1188,5159,2364,591,1830,2704,2365,5160,1189,5157,5162,85,3276,2366,1190,2367,5161,5264],"class_list":["post-725189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-arizona-diamondbacks","tag-athletics","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-cincinnati-reds","tag-cleveland-guardians","tag-colorado-rockies","tag-detroit-tigers","tag-houston-astros","tag-kansas-city-royals","tag-los-angeles-angels","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-miami-marlins","tag-milwaukee-brewers","tag-minnesota-twins","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-mets","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-pittsburgh-pirates","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-seattle-mariners","tag-sports","tag-sports-business","tag-st-louis-cardinals","tag-tampa-bay-rays","tag-texas-rangers","tag-toronto-blue-jays","tag-washington-nationals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}