Tony Clark, executive director of the MLB Players Association, expects the league to implement a lockout after the 2026 season. “Unless I am mistaken, the league has come out and said there’s going to be a work stoppage,” Clark said, per Barry M. Bloom of Sportico. “So, I don’t think I’m speaking out of school in that regard.” The current collective bargaining agreement is set to expire on December 1 of 2026.
That quote is in response to some previous comments made by Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred about a month ago. “In a bizarre way, it’s actually a positive,” Manfred said to Evan Drellich of The Athletic last month. “There is leverage associated with an offseason lockout and the process of collective bargaining under the [National Labor Relations Act] works based on leverage. The great thing about offseason lockouts is the leverage that exists gets applied between the bargaining parties.” He also praised a lockout as being preferable to in-season negotiations, saying that it’s “like using a .22 (caliber firearm), as opposed to a shotgun or a nuclear weapon.”
Clark disagreed in response at that time. “Players know from first-hand experience that a lockout is neither routine nor positive,” Clark said. “It’s a weapon, plain and simple, implemented to pressure players and their families by taking away a player’s ability to work.”
Relations between the league and the union have been combative in recent years and the current collective bargaining agreement was agreed to after a lockout which lasted several months. The previous CBA expired on December 1 of 2021 and the league instituted a lockout that very night. The negotiations continued into the spring, with a new agreement getting done on March 10 of 2022. That led to a rushed ramp-up to the 2022 season, though a full 162-game schedule was still completed via some scheduled doubleheaders.
Given that the relations between the two sides haven’t markedly improved, many in the baseball world expect another lockout to follow the expiration of the current CBA. Manfred’s comments only added to that suspicion and it seems Clark and the union are operating under that assumption.
There are many issues that will need to be discussed between now and then. There will be the ever-present topics of player compensation and revenue sharing, as well as more complex issues such as an international draft. The two sides are free to discuss these issues at any time but comments from Manfred make it seem unlikely that any progress will be made well in advance.
“I’m one that likes to bargain early, but we’re still two years away, even if you’re thinking you want to bargain early,” Manfred said about a month ago. “We got time on that front. And I think the time is particularly important right now, because we do have things going on in terms of the economics of the game — local media being the principal one — that the longer we wait, the more it evolves, the better decisions we’re going to make.”
From the players’ side, they seem to be assuming that Manfred is trying to generate leverage through the press. “I know that a lot of what Rob Manfred says in the media is posturing,” Giants third baseman Matt Chapman said recently to John Shea of the San Francisco Standard. “They’re all negotiating tactics. He tries to create his narrative.”
One topic that usually comes up in CBA discussions is a salary cap, though the MLBPA has always considered that a nonstarter. Evan Drellich of The Athletic recently reported that the owners are mulling a push for a cap when the next round of CBA talks gets going in earnest. David Rubenstein, principal owner of the Orioles, spoke publicly in favor of a cap in January. Clark, however, reiterated that the union has no desire to agree to such a measure.
“We remain of the mind, as we have over the last 50 or 60 years, that the industry does not need it,” Clark said today to Matt Weyrich of The Baltimore Sun. “It is not necessary. Whether it’s from a ‘competitive balance’ standpoint, or whether it’s from the ability of the industry to continue to grow and move forward, all of those things have happened in the absence of [a salary cap] and our game has thrived as a result.”
Many fans view a salary cap as the simplest way to combat certain inequities in baseball. That’s despite the fact that the sport hasn’t had recent dynastic runs like other leagues. MLB hasn’t seen a repeat champion since the 1998-2000 Yankees. There are huge gaps in terms of spending, with the Dodgers projected by RosterResource to have a $390MM payroll this year with some other clubs like the Marlins are down near $70MM. But despite that massive gap, those two clubs have the same number of World Series trophies over the past 35 years.
Still, there are fans of small-market clubs who feel overpowered when it comes to competitive balance. “There are ways of addressing the system that aren’t salary or cap related or require the restrictions of player salaries as the answer to every one of these questions,” Clark said, per Bloom. Presumably, Clark was referring to things like the fact that smaller-market clubs get extra picks in the draft via the competitive balance round as well as larger pools of bonus money to spend on international players, or perhaps the revenue-sharing agreements which could always be altered. Those measures have helped clubs like the Rays, Guardians and Brewers stay consistently competitive despite far less spending capacity than some of their fellow clubs.
The larger point is that MLB is in fairly healthy shape overall. Maury Brown of Forbes recently reported that the league’s revenues hit a record $12.1 billion in 2024, without even accounting for alternate revenue streams such as from commercial real estate projects connected to ballparks. Various metrics have suggested the implementation of the pitch clock has helped baseball’s popularity more generally, in terms of ticket sales and TV ratings. Clark seemed to reference that situation in comments relayed by Weyrich today, suggesting that the proposed cap is less about competitive balance and more about increasing profits for owners.
“At this point in time, despite the fact that there was an announcement that the industry itself is doing better than it ever has, despite the fact that there was an announcement that there’s more viewership and more attendance than it has been in the last 10 or so years, you’re hearing the rhetoric around a salary cap because there’s an interest in moving more of that revenue from one side of the equation to the other.”
I have it on good authority that a long work stoppage is coming and the owners have already prepared for it.
Who is your “good authority”?
Some of the guys I played with the minors in the late 80s, early 90s work in front offices now, so I hear things here and there.
You should start writing articles on here!! Then I’ll leave ten page long “comments” about unrelated Wisconsin sports!!
Agreed. Owners are doing some “outside the box” things everywhere and some of these contracts are absurd. I hope I’m wrong but I feel like we may have a year stoppage or potentially longer, looming?
I hope we have a long one. Baseball is too distracting at times, and I need ot get some things done.
Quoth the raven nevermore.
Absurd as in too low. The owners are billionaires and barely give any of it to the players who generate the income. The owners are leeches on society.
Lemme guess! You’re either a NY or a Dodger fan. Huge market teams seem to feel that every ownership group has the same amount of billions, and only THEIR owners “care” enough to pee money away like a fountain. Reds owner Bob Castellini is said to have $400 – 500 million. Even if you triple that, how in hell could he afford a Soto or an Ohtani?
The Dodgers and the Yankees are actually in the lower half of percentage of revenue going towards player expenses, at least according to the Forbes numbers for 2023.
Yep they’ll cry poor and take that excuse as far as it’ll get them. If baseball was as unprofitable as some owners would make you believe it is, wouldn’t the smart thing for these smart businessmen/women to do be to sell the team? Cut your losses before you’re too far in the red.
When the owners ask for a salary cap, the players should immediately ask for a salary floor. You’ll suddenly see less owners in favor of the cap if it meant there was a minimum amount they had to spend each year.
Small market clubs may never be able to afford generational talent in free agency but I’ve said it many times. Reward teams who sign their own players to four or more years by only applying 50% of the amount to the tax threshold limits. Such would likely result in more players staying with their existing club who theoretically should be offering more than other clubs. It also should result in larger returns for existing teams who trade the player.
Only 9 teams exceeded the luxury tax limit, and they were among the top 11 teams in revenue. Applying only 50% of salaries to the luxury tax limit does jack squat for smaller revenue teams.
Look at what NBA and NFL players make compared to MLB players, and they play significantly shorter seasons.
The NBA shares all revenue (TV, ticket sales, concessions, merch, etc.) equally among the teams. Same with the NFL. Basically all the teams have the same amount of money to spend. It doesn’t work that way in MLB.
I hope youre right. Let both sides feel the sting of their greed and miss an entire year of income. There’s plenty of money for both sides if they would act reasonably.
One thing I don’t understand is why doesn’t Clark get off his mediocre player derrière and get some negotiations going now? Strikes/lawsuits could be avoided with some proactive behavior instead crying about something totally 100% preventable.
The issues are the same now as in 2026.
I thought he and Chapman answered your question pretty clearly in the quoted comments. Of course the issues are the same now as in 2026, because they are the same as they were in 2021-22. Ownership will continue to push for a salary cap that they know the players will never accept.
@60s…His mediocre player backside?
Well that career .824 OPS of Clark’s is not mediocre.
That’s the quickening and the looming tribulation you’re “sensing”…. Yes mlb will probably come to a “screeching” halt similar to a “work stoppage” but don’t worry too much cause day/night/seasons won’t cease!
Oh stop. This is sad.
Can Clark be replaced before this happens again?
His beard seems to be keeping him immortal. (Also not sure how much MLBPA leadership impacts the lockout potential, as the lockout is instated by the league/owner side.)
He can be replaced at any time. The players have his support so I don’t see that happening after he’s already negotiated one CBA. I don’t see what replacing him with another figurehead would achieve since he’s representing the players.
Funny how many fans are obsessed with firing Manfred and Clark, when the people who actually hire them don’t seem to be the least bit interested in doing so. This, for some reason, informs these fans not at all.
Maybe just easy targets for people to complain without digging a bit deeper?
I thought the story in March ’24 of the attempts to replace MLBPA’s Meyer with Marino was one of the more interesting stories about either side’s potential leadership changes.
I expected to hear Happ discuss it on his podcast but I must have missed it.
Sure. Some will ask, “but who speaks for the fans?” The inconvenient but right answer is the fans speak for themselves — with their wallets. Griping about Clark or Manfred is about as useful as howling at the moon. Their jobs are the same: capturing as much of the game’s revenue for their respective clients as possible.
“Clark be replaced”..Don’t you mean can Scott Boras be replaced? In reality, Boras is the de facto leader of the MLBPA. Scott Boras likes the current rules that allow 80% of the free agent money spent to go to the top 4 or 5 players and leave everyone else(the other dozens upon dozens upon dozens of free agents)fighting for that last 25% piece of the pie.
If only some owners stopped enabling him, right? Get rid of Boras and someone else from CAA or Wasserman replaces him. You don’t have to like Boras but he’s not the problem. Owners can freely choose to swear him and his clients off.
I agree but certain teams (large market) won’t do that.
That is an oversized pie at 105%…. ; )
Close enough for Jocks…..
That pie has been “inflated” for years Ha…. Btw, are U Clayton’s more athletic brother!?
It’s not on Clark, Its on Manfred and the owners. Manfred literally said that a lockout is a good thing.
‘In January, Manfred told The Athletic’s Evan Drellich that a lockout would be a good thing for the sport. “In a bizarre way, it’s actually a positive,” said Manfred.’
nytimes.com/athletic/6088697/2025/01/27/rob-manfre…
But one action looks virtually certain. Manfred said an offseason lockout, as there was in 2021-22, should be considered the new norm.
“In a bizarre way, it’s actually a positive,” he said. “There is leverage associated with an offseason lockout and the process of collective bargaining under the NLRA works based on leverage. The great thing about offseason lockouts is the leverage that exists gets applied between the bargaining parties.”
To which MLBPA executive director Tony Clark’s responded by saying that, “Players know from first-hand experience that a lockout is neither routine nor positive… It’s a weapon, plain and simple, implemented to pressure players and their families by taking away a player’s ability to work.”
If there is another lockout, it should end the MLB monopoly exemption. Manfred is a disgrace.
The way our Senators and Representatives can apparently be bought, it wouldn’t surprise me if MLB is in the pocket of a few highly influential DC decision makers… potentially keeping the antitrust exemption(s) in place. To be fair, I know nothing.
Gwynning Snow!
I snow nothing as well.
That’s up to the player’s union, unless you’d prefer the deep state sign an executive order?
League record revenue? Let’s have a lockout!
I always think that’s a funny statement. Record revenue has nothing to do with profits. As revenue goes up, so does operating expenses. So record revenue has no correlation to profits.
Who mentioned profits?
Except operating expenses of the two teams that are required to reveal those publicly have gone down over the last 3 seasons.
Profits? Well those are up 21% and 27% for those two teams.
jon,
“As revenue goes up, so does operating expenses.”
How is that an automatic parallel while “record revenue has *no correlation* to profits?”
Heck yeah, more “$$” to be fighting over…. I mean what else is there to do while “your woman” is off being pleasured by “real” men that dgaf about fake inflated “$$/power”..pshff
The owners are prepared for it, and will surely lock the players out. But do they have a plan for what to do next? I don’t think they do. Several large market team owners will probably buck a hard cap and the transperency that comes with it, and small market teams will probably oppose a floor.
The players will punt the season to avoid a hard cap. And that may be the most likely outcome. It is truly a slow-motion train wreck.
The owners have other income sources. The players don’t, unless they go work ar Amazon or Walmart.
I made that point during he last lockout… There will obviously be concessions, but the owners will get a LOT more of what they want than the players ever will for this very reason.
And if it’s an extended lockout, say losing a season? That’s 10%-ish (or more) of an entire MLB career for many (most?) players.
Far more than 10% of a career for most players. The average MLB career is a little over 5 years, which would put one year around 20%..
Only 7% of all MLB players last 10 years or 10%.
Average length of an MLB career is around 3 years (no doubt skewed quite a bit by guys who just have proverbial “cup of coffee” in the Show. So yes, a lockout has a large effect on many/most players.
It’s the minor league players that usually get screwed, everyone else is rich or well off.
Eh Reds, some if not most players do have side income nowadays. In recent talks with many players, I can’t recall one saying they don’t own or operate “something” on the side. Musgrove has coffee shops, Melancon has a turf business, Machado (partially) owns the SD soccer club, etc. Etc.
If I made their money, I’d invest for something post-career too.
100%! Cheers buddy
The MLBPA has an estimated $2.3 billion fund set aside to help players in the case of a lost season. They started funding it 18 months before the last CBA negotiations and its grown substantially since then. They can’t cover the entire $4.8 billion that players are estimated to earn this season, but $2+ billion would make a huge dent in that. Players are prepared.
Just defer it all what’s the worst that could happen?
meh
Nice beard bro.
700M isn’t enough players should be making more than the ownership groups.
lol
Now this is zanny!
Yeah, looks like someone quit midway through his economics course. Not to mention their history course, explaining what has happened to every country that used that business idea as their platform.
They became Norway?
Sarcasm is not your strong suit, is it? Did that one fly over your head or did it bounce off, Canseco?
In addition Ohtani should own Dodger Stadium and half of downtown LA. Soto should get the controlling stake of Amazon.
Wish Manfred was already gone so he wasn’t part of this whole process as a lame duck.
He’ll pretend to be a middleman arbiter for this next CBA, probably bungle it all up and then ride off into the sunset with our beautiful game in disarray. Such a shame.
Exactly how I see it
I’m honestly surprised that the owners didn’t give him more crap for the stunt he pulled on the Braves and the City of Atlanta. If they did it was behind closed doors.
Where is Sotamayor when we need her? A work stoppage is virtually like Thanos-inevitable. In theory the owners can out-last the players, but, the lack of unity among the owners and definitely the courts may determine otherwise.
With no CBA, I don’t think there’s much the courts can do. And just how united are the players? They just had a failed coup attempt.
I believe this is correct. Without a contract to enforce, there is nothing courts can do in the sense of penalizing one side over the other.
The players started setting up a fund to deal with the financial difficulties for players caused by work stoppages 18 months before the last CBA negotiations. That fund has doubled in size. They are prepared and unified. You may have noticed that Clark came out of that stronger than before and the other guy is gone.
She’s on the Supreme Court now.
No kidding. 🙂
Where’s Condoleezza Rice?
Saw Condy golfing at Augusta.
Can I pretend Iron Man is a relief pitcher?
Well baseball fans have seen this coming for nearly a decade with Manfred as commissioner. I just hope he will still get a paycheck every other week while he finally kills the sport. I am more curious to see how many TV contracts go past the 2026 season that will have to pay even if no product is available to watch and sell to consumers
A month ago I moved back to Alaska from WI.. after moving thousands of miles from their “home state,” it will now make it far easier for me to watch Brewers baseball again.. how pathetic.. how does manfred still have a “job”..
Imagine being a Brewer fan in Alaska in the 80s, before internet, before ESPN. Back when regular TV shows were aired three weeks after the rest of the country saw them. My first year living in Alaska was the first year that Monday Night Football was aired live.
If it were not for the fans, major sports would go away. Let them go on strike so we can stop going to games or watching them on TV.
If it weren’t for the fans, lots of things would go away.
Players are not talking about a strike. The owners have said they will lock the players out during the offseason.
The solution to out of control salaries originates in the process of the QO. If a team loses their player, they can choose another player off the roster, regardless who they are that signs the player. Example, If the Orioles lost Burnes to the Yankees, Baltimore could take Aaron Judge as compensation. If the Jays lost Guerrero to the Dodgers, they could take Ohtani as compensation. That balances out the compensation and if say Boston signed a free agent, the team would have the option to take Campbell or Roman Anthony as compensation. That would also be based on years or salary signed for. The higher the amount, the higher the compensation awarded. That balances the large against small market teams and the players can blame themselves since they created the monster by refusing to compromise.
Now this is zanny!
Ahhhh… never gunna work Ashley. But nice try.
Ashleyr with a bizarre “solution” on top of placing all the blame on players.
“MLB hasn’t seen a repeat champion since the 1998-2000 Yankees. There are huge gaps in terms of spending, with the Dodgers projected by RosterResource to have a $390MM payroll this year with some other clubs like the Marlins are down near $70MM. But despite that massive gap, those two clubs have the same number of World Series trophies over the past 35 years.”
This is such a disingenuous statement, considering the Marlins actually spent money to win their first title. Same with the 2001 Diamondbacks. They might be a small market, but they had a top 5ish payroll that season.
This. The apologists always return to who wins the World Series, when that’s not what critics talk about at all. We all admit the playoffs are more or less random. But the key is who gets that chance every single year, and who gets a chance once every 5 or 6. That’s the inequity. Baseball’s so-called parity rests entirely on the small sample randomness of the playoffs, and the clumpy distribution of mega teams, which tend to the coasts. Yes Cleveland and Milwaukee are successful, but that’s because we don’t have big spenders in the Central divisions by sheer luck.
“This is such a disingenuous statement, considering the Marlins actually spent money to win their first title.”
So…. you’re acknowledging that the issue is small market teams choosing to not spend enough.
Yes, as shocking as it sounds, you have to spend money to win a World Series.
Screw them all.
True it takes both sides to screw it up.
I guess the lockout is now a baseball tradition. Both sides of this have poor leadership. It’s not a good look but they don’t seem to care.
Hit ’em in the pocketbook and people will start caring real quick!
I seriously don’t know if I can tolerate another labor dispute and lockout. The last one was brutal and I bet this one will be worse. I’d be stunned if there aren’t regular season games lost. If my team ends the year on a sour note and then there is another work stopage thatight push me away forever.
Thanks to the Dodgers….part of me thinks they grossly overspent on purpose to cause this.
I heard the Dodgers authorized the invasion of Ukraine.
Putin owns the Dodgers? Now EVERYTHING in my life makes sense…
Isn’t it time that negotiations start soon? Let’s not wait until the last minute. At least some things can be worked out ahead of time.
The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
The next CBA should address deferred money vs the luxury tax. It should also set a salary floor. One will be unpopular with players the other with certain owners. Both would benefit fans across the board outside the obvious few.
What is the problem with deferred money? The NPV is accounted for in CBT calculations.
LAD with $300MM+ committed to payroll for 2027. Miami with $5MM committed for 2027. Who’s gonna be hurt by an extended lockout?
Definitely not the team that suddenly doesn’t have to pay $300MM.
Gotta imagine baseball contracts are worked out so no play/no pay if there’s a stoppage huh
nooooooo
I hope they implement better revenue sharing with a salary cap/floor. I also want then to focus on getting rid of blackouts, making it more of a national sport rather than a regional one. They should also implement an international draft as opposed to free agency. A salary cap/floor doesn’t mean players earn less.
Owners like Jerry Reinsdorf will fight tooth and nail against a salary floor. Problem is that owners like Jerry are part of the good old boys, they aren’t used to being told what to do, they will not fall in line. I’m not defending these jerks, just that, it’s going to be an ugly time for baseball in 2026.
He’s 89 and reportedly trying to sell.
Without some sort of mechanism that allows rebuilding teams to be lower than a set floor for a period, all a salary floor does is artificially inflate salaries. A player that should be getting $3 M signs for $6 M just so a team gets above it. That means a player that should be getting $6 M is going to want $10 M. Then a player that should be getting $10 wants $15 M. A $15 M player will want $20. And so on, and so on.
Increased revenue sharing – Sounds great, let the owners work out their differences instead of making the players pay for it.
Salary cap – A soft one already exists with the CBT.
Salary floor – Non-existent except for the weak threat of an MLBPA grievance.
A salary cap/floor almost certainly would mean players earn less.
An international draft would lower signing bonuses, harming players’ ability to negotiate the best deal possible.
I don’t understand why so many fans endorse socialism that benefits owners while espousing capitalism in most other aspects of life.
Oddly, “The Replacements” was on TV yesterday and I watched a bit of it. Apropos.
Rip Gene
Hackman would be a cool ballplayer’s name. RIP Gene
Last time there was a significant work stoppage I didn’t watch a game for the next 6 years. The 1998 steroid-fest did not bring me back. I’ll be happy to do it again if these clowns don’t figure out the proper way forward.
An NHL style year long lockout would be disastrous for MLB. With these two buffons running the show a disaster is all but certain
If they know about a problem, they should solve it now.
?
Aww…poor babies, life in the sweat shop what a hoot.
Millionaires vs billionaires. Next.
Have you told mother?
… telling your mother right now.
Without more revenue sharing, a salary cap means nothing but lower salaries for players. Taking $100 M off the Dodgers payroll doesn’t mean that the rest of the teams automatically have that money to spend.
Going through the 2023 Forbes valuations, 20 of the 30 teams spent 40%-60% of “revenue” on “player expenses.” Five were below 40%, 5 were above 60%. Note that Forbes had six teams with a negative operating income; the A’s (which were less than 40%) and all five of the teams that went over 60%. So the 40%-60% range seems to be the sweet spot for teams.
If two-thirds of the teams are already spending at that rate, without more revenue, they don’t really have heaps of extra money to spend on players.
It’s interesting how, these days, the so-called working man roots for billionaires; interesting as in dumb.
MLBPA under Clark’s leadership appears to be in a weakened state (see his attempted ouster). However, if owners demand any deal include a salary cap the MLBPA would unify and circle the wagons quickly. Where do the newer owners stand? Certainly might be able to divide and conquer the haves vs have-nots in the ownership group and hold off any cap. Who knows, maybe some unseen occurrence pops up (See covid) and the can is kicked down the road another 5 years.
Passive Tony needs to go !
What’s bigger, Tony Clark’s beard or his sense of self importance and ego? This guy constantly complains about the state of the league, but doesn’t provide anything constructive to meet the owners half way or move the Players’ Association toward a better future. What the h is “speaking out of school”? Is that just a Boomer phrase?
What lives in that beard?
What does “meet the owners half way” mean? Seriously, on what topics should the players give in more than they have?
Spending too much or too little is entirely an owner issue. Not sure what the point of fighting with players to “fix” it is.
Everyone’s looking at the lockout as just another owners vs. players fight over salaries, but in reality, this might be a calculated disruption to reshape the economics of baseball entirely.
Bingo Yorkie!
My gut is the owners will push at first for a salary cap, then might push for limits on individual contracts (5 years max, some limit to per year salary, maybe start at $70 mil, then growing by 5% per year or something). Players would fight to the death over it though. I could see a year limit maybe getting in, but around 10 years, not 5.
Why do I have a feeling this is your wish list and not the owners?
Any talk of any sort of Cap will be retorted with a necessary Floor. It’s the only way to make it all work out proper…
The principal parties are who? Ownership groups; the players, and the fans. Except that the fans are basically silent, with no seat at the table. This, despite the fact that the fans basically pay all of the bills. Not only that, taxpayers foot the bill in part for most stadium deals as well, which should also give a seat at the table.
It is too easy for us to look at what players make and be appalled, while we ignore the oh so sweet deal that it is to be an owner. A protected market; little to no financial transparency, a built in equity dividend that has been almost unfathomable over time and very little leverage over bad owners a la the Fishers and Nuttings et al.
Meanwhile, I would have more respect for the player’s association if they focused their efforts not just on their share of the pie, but how it is parceled out. The top deals are insanely overpaid and do not truly reflect the actual difference in value of a star vs. a solid starter vs. the bottom of the roster. And they should also be looking out for the minor leaguers as well to better effect.
And then the fans – when I was a kid we were certainly not in the clover. Lower middle class, and yet we could afford to go to pro games and get seats, food and drink and not have to take out a mortgage. Today solidly middle class plus families have to make this a special treat. We have a harder and harder time seeing the games, even as we pay a lot more for the privilege on TV as well. Popularity is down, and the owners simply do not see things clearly, while the players are too intent on their own issues to grasp the bigger picture as well.
Baseball is a great game, and it is basically still healthy…but the cracks are showing and the arrogance of ownership and Manfred is not going to help things to get better.
In Philly we have one of the best owners in the game – he simply gets it. He understands the concept of stewardship and that the team is not his plaything, his toy, his hobby or simply an investment. We need more owners like him.
Now this is zanny, part III!
Great post Carver.
How many car owners have a seat at the table when auto companies and auto workers negotiate???
Middle class fans can’t afford games because owners charge what the market will bear and cater to high-end customers. Player payroll and ticket, merch, parking prices do not correlate very closely.
I can’t believe the players have not fired Tony Clark yet.
Owners, Commissioner and Executive Director of the MLBPA are all bums who care zero about the fans. This could be adverted and they would all be considered heroes but it’s more of a pissing contest between millionaires and billionaires who care nothing about the game
Wonder what would happen if the players went on strike right before the 2026 World Series?
Sounds to me like Clark is not preparing to negotiate in good faith. Already made the decision that there will be a stoppage. Sounds about right.
Clark isn’t the one threatening a work stoppage. He’s planning for the likelihood of owners locking the players out. How did you misread this?
Lockouts simply mean they’ll work out agreement without striking during the season.
Doesn’t everyone want this to work itself out February or March instead of July or August?
Never ever underestimate the greed of billionaires and multi-millionaires for more, more, more,,,,,
The Commissioner, who works for 30 billionaire owners, is in-favor of a lockout that will only be felt by the workers (players, coaches, trainers but also SEASONAL stadium staff).
[Insert “I am shocked…. SHOCKED that there is gambling in here!” GIF]
Why do the players who are never going to get contracts like the top 5% battle to make sure the top 5% can make even more money? They should be fighting to get more for the bottom 95%.
The minimum salary jumped with the last CBA, and there’s a bonus pool (something like $50M) that gets split among the top 100 young players. These were good steps, and I want more of them. $1M minimum salary in 2027, as one example.
Gbs42. I don’t think this will be a big deal. I can’t see where either side has much to argue about.
Until I hear about the owners wanting a cap, I’m confident things will work themselves out.
Get rid of extra inning runner rule. The rule added unearned wins to the game.
The owners will not stand united and will crack as they’ve historically done so it’s only a matter of time!
Owners want players to make less, players want to earn more. Not surprising. Neither side particularly romantic about it…very little thought, if any, about what the fans think. Both sides want as much leverage as possible. Nothing new there. Owners will continue to ask state and local governments for free money–again, nothing surprising there. Owners would like a cap, players a floor…..not likely to happen, but you never know. Gonna get a little ugly, tax our patience and our vocabulary (for variants of “greedy” etc. No, there aren;t a lot of owners who “want what’s good for the game.” And, no, there aren’t a lot of players who think they should accept lower salaries so lower revenue teams can have smaller payrolls.
Hard cap, hard floor, get rid of loopholes.
Having different WS winners does not define parity. Having the rich clubs buy their way to a nearly guaranteed playoff spot every year with all stars while others have to hope for lightning in a bottle or have to tear down/rebuild for a 3 year window is not parity. Having small market teams complain they aren’t making enough but pocket the revenue sharing $ makes no sense either.
If it costs the 2027 season to make sure baseball is around in 2035, 2040, 2050…that may be the price to pay.
Salary cap is never going to happen. Players are united against it, and, some owners don’t want it. Not happening.
A real Baseball Commissioner would be able to work out fair and equitable agreements. He should retire and be replaced by someone who doesn’t dance to the tune of the latest opinion by oligarchs.
And to all the Jed Hoyer naysayers out there–THIS is exactly why he operates as he does.
Tom Ricketts, like him or hate him, has been preparing for this for quite a while now.
He had no way to predict the Covid happenings and got burned by it badly. If you understand that the family not only owns the Cubs, but dozens of businesses around Wrigleyville and the Marquee network–you understand that if there is no baseball, there is no (or drastically reduced) revenue coming in.
Do you think it’s a coincidence with the exception of Dansby that all the key players contracts expire after the 2026 season (Happ, Seiya, Taillon, Boyd, Hoerner)? Ricketts has known this was possible for a long time as is not extending his empire into 2027 and beyond.
Lack of deferred contracts? Hey, if you have a lack of revenue coming in, you have no way to fund investments that build and become payable in 6-8-10 years.
I’m sure Jed would have loved to have been in on the Soto sweepstakes or would have extended Tucker before his plane landed in Chicago, but I’m am willing to bet that Tom has a pretty strict budget, up to or close to the tax limit and that is that.
I’ve been a season ticket holder for many, many, many years and to me it’s kind of like Monopoly money—but to Ricketts I will at the very least respect that it is 100s of millions of dollars in revenue that is not coming in and he’s not going to expose himself to like what happening five years or so ago.
And I certainly don’t know what is in Dansby’s contract, but I am sure that players, after Covid, are beginning to add getting paid no matter what clauses in their agreements.
I will have no problem admitting I am wrong if that is the case, but there are too many things lining up to the end of the 2026 season to make me feel any different at this point.
The Owners, in particular, and the players never learn.
It took years for attendance & fan loyalty to return in full after the last lockout, yet the Two Stooges of Baseball are ramped up to be IDIOTS once again!
To paraphrase, Albert Einstein, to do the same thing Over & Over Again, you Morons, is a sign of Abject STUPIDITY!
The last lockout was three years ago, so how could it have taken years?
Has there ever been a lockout that cancelled more than a handful of games?
The off-season is the time for work stoppages. They almost always get done. It’s when the players strike mid-season that there are long work stoppages.
great, more “owners are greedy!” v “players are greedy!” Manicheanism, as if both sides are not at fault. Players bring fans through the gate, owners pay for players and stadiums etc. And who is left out? fans.
Clark is going to win by fooling the owners into thinking he’s Santa Claus.