As Major League Baseball approaches the second month of its lockout, the league and MLB players union will reportedly meet on Tuesday with the hopes of making progress on a new collective-bargaining agreement.
MLB and its franchise owners implemented a lockout on Dec. 2, following the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement. While commissioner Rob Manfred and club owners and the MLB Players Association held meetings in December regarding the work stoppage, Sports Illustrated reported the two sides never held joint talks and no offers were made.
When January arrived, the league and MLBPA started making efforts to resume negotiations. While delaying spring training is still possible, there are signs of progress in CBA talks. After productive dialogue this past week, negotiations will resume Tuesday to cover more ground.
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ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that MLB and the players union have scheduled meetings Tuesday. Those talks will come just a few days after the two sides started to find some common ground in negotiations.
According to Passan and Jesse Rogers, the league is now “open to a pre-arbitration bonus pool” that would provide additional funds to be distributed to the best, young players who are playing on contracts far below market value. However, the two sides are far apart in the size of the pool with MLB proposing $10 million and the union pushing for $105 million.
The major league minimum salary ($570,500), the lowest among the most popular American sports, is also a point of contention. Team owners are offering to raise it to $600,000 but only if it includes a new rule that clubs aren’t allowed to offer their players more than the minimum. On the other side, the MLBPA is pushing for a $775,000 minimum.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic caused a shortened 2020 season, MLB enjoyed record-setting revenue ($10.3 billion in 2019) every year. While the total revenue for 2021 isn’t publicly known, the Atlanta Braves set franchise records for revenue before winning the World Series.
Despite MLB’s profits increasing with new TV contracts signed, player salaries are dropping. The Associated Press found in April 2021 that MLB salaries dropped 4.8% in two years and Forbes reported in December that total payrolls were reduced by $168 million from the 2019 season.
As of now, there is still tremendous confidence that the MLB lockout ends and Opening Day takes place on schedule. But if there are any setbacks in negotiations, the start of the 2022 season will be in jeopardy.