{"id":678630,"date":"2026-06-01T22:13:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T22:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/678630\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T22:13:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T22:13:10","slug":"baseball-players-chief-says-union-has-never-been-broken-and-will-fight-mlbs-salary-cap-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/678630\/","title":{"rendered":"Baseball players’ chief says union ‘has never been broken’ and will fight MLB’s salary cap proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2013 The head of the baseball players’ association insisted his union will fight management’s salary cap proposal<\/a> as long as it takes as negotiations proceed with the threat of a lockout that could cancel games next season.<\/p>\n

Major League Baseball proposed a salary cap last week and appears set to start a lockout<\/a> after the current labor contract expires Dec. 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur union has never been broken and never will be,\u201d interim executive director Bruce Meyer said Monday during an online news question-and-answer session with reporters. \u201cOur players have what they have, including being the only sport that doesn\u2019t have this ultimate restriction, the salary cap, because our players have always been the most unified and that\u2019s going to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baseball has had nine work stoppages since 1972, the last a 99-day lockout<\/a> that slightly delayed the 2022 season. Regular-season games have not been lost since a 7 1\/2-month strike in 1994-95, the last time MLB proposed a cap.<\/p>\n

The NFL has had a cap since 1994, the NBA since 1984-85 and the NHL since 2005-06.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe unions in the other sports didn\u2019t agree to salary-cap systems because they thought it was a good thing for players. That\u2019s not what happened,\u201d Meyer said. \u201cIn one way or the other, they were not able to fight the way that our union has and not criticizing anybody, it\u2019s just a fact. Our union has always been the most solid, and that\u2019s why our union has the best system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Negotiators have not scheduled the next bargaining session. The union last week proposed<\/a> expanded free agency and salary arbitration rights along with almost doubling the major league minimum and increasing revenue sharing.<\/p>\n

MLB\u2019s proposal last Thursday would cap team spending in 2027 at $245.3 million, using figures for luxury tax payrolls that include $20.1 million for benefits and the pre-arbitration bonus pool. It also would establish a payroll floor of $171.2 million, forcing some teams to spend more. The Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball\u2019s biggest spenders, had a $415.2 million payroll on opening day this year \u2014 around $170 million over the proposed cap.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur salary cap and floor proposal addresses our fans\u2019 concerns by leveling the playing field while sharing baseball revenue with the players 50\/50 like the other leagues,” MLB spokesman Glen Caplin said in a statement. \u201cOur salary cap and floor proposal addresses our fans\u2019 concerns by leveling the playing field while sharing baseball revenue with the players 50\/50 like the other leagues. Under our proposal, major league players will receive more compensation in year one of the system than in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

Los Angeles shattered MLB\u2019s spending record<\/a> with a combined $515 million in payroll and luxury tax last year en route to its second straight World Series title.<\/a> Los Angeles\u2019 total was seven times the $68.7 million payroll of Miami, the lowest-spending team, and more than the payrolls of the bottom six clubs combined.<\/p>\n

Meyer likened a cap to \u201cBig Brother\u201d telling a team it can’t sign a player it wants to.<\/p>\n

“At a time of exploding popularity, growth and interest, the owners\u2019 goal is more money in the pockets of owners,” he said. \u201cDon\u2019t blame them for that, but that\u2019s what it is. Whether it\u2019s more in profits because they\u2019re holding down labor costs or growing their franchise values.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meyer dismissed MLB’s contention that payroll disparity causes fans of lower-spending teams to lose hope. No small-market team has won the World Series since the 2015 Kansas City Royals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not accept the premise that there\u2019s some existential crisis going on,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople are still lining up to buy these teams, to get in whether as a minority investor or otherwise and that\u2019s because the sport is extremely healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

He pointed out lower-payroll teams do reach the 12-team playoffs and Cincinnati got in last year while the New York Mets did not. Six postseason teams had payrolls<\/a> above $200 million last year and MLB emphasizes high-spending teams usually dominate the later rounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want money to be taken away from teams that want to spend it and give it to teams that don\u2019t want to spend it,\u201d Meyer said. \u201cWe want to encourage more San Diegos. San Diego is a small-market team that went out, decided to compete, signed a lot of players, turned around their franchise.\u201d<\/p>\n

MLB’s proposal calls for a 50-50 split with players of defined revenue, including for players spending on signing bonuses for players from high school and college, and international amateurs agreeing to initial contracts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not even a real 50%. It\u2019s taking billions of dollars off the top before they\u2019re proposing to even share any of that,\u201d Meyer said. “Players’ share under their proposal would go down. Players’ share for this season, 2026, is projected to be well over 50%. … Had MLB\u2019s proposal been in place in 2026, players would, we estimate \u2014 would lose over half a billion dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

He faulted MLB for how it defined revenue and spending.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir proposal of course excludes things like expansion fees, franchise values, the place where they make their most money,\u201d he said. “Their proposal deducts billions of dollars in expenses … so it\u2019s not even a real 50%.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve effectively managed to cobble together the worst system for players in any of the major sports, and not even close,\u201d Meyer added.<\/p>\n

Players contracts this year, using average annual values and including benefits and the pre-arbitration bonus pool, total $6.14 billion, according to MLB’s opening-day figures. Slot values signing bonuses in this year’s amateur draft come to about $359 million and international signing bonus pools to $208 million.<\/p>\n

Under MLB’s proposal, there would be an escrow system in which players would have money withheld in the event their share of revenue rises above the specified amount. They would get more money if their share falls short.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf revenues are soft or they go down, then that means players at the end of the day won\u2019t get the guaranteed money,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Meyer also said some teams heighten disparity by not spending on players.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery team now has the ability to put a competitive team on the field, every single team,\u201d he said. \u201cOne of the things that I find kind of ironic in a perverse way, if team X decides we\u2019re not going to spend money on players, well that increases the disparity in payroll.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP MLB: https:\/\/apnews.com\/MLB<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2013 The head of the baseball players’ association insisted his union will fight management’s salary cap…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[219862,363,99],"class_list":["post-678630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-bruce-meyer","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}