Matt Johnson
The Major League Baseball Players Association made headlines earlier this week when it was announced the union boasts about $519 million in total assets. It’s now worth comparing that to what MLB owners have ahead of a potential lockout in 2026.
According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, MLB owners have a war chest of $2 billion stashed away ahead of a potential lockout in December. This comes at a time when the league and the MLBPA reportedly haven’t engaged in preliminary discussions on a new collective bargaining agreement following this season.
Evan Drellich of The Athletic previously reported that the MLBPA came into the year with $519.3 million in total assets, marking a 47 percent jump from its total at the end of the 2024 season. While the players union is preparing its members for the league to lock everyone out when the CBA expires on Dec. 1, Drellich noted that MLB owners have put aside $75 million per club in the event of regular-season games being missed.
That’s not all the MLB owners will have at their disposal if needed. According to Drellich, the league has an investment fund (Baseball Endowment L.P.) that it can use to provide owners and clubs with even more money if a lockout is prolonged.
During the last lockout, which delayed the start of the 2022 MLB season, all 162 regular-season games were played. The last time an MLB work stoppage wiped out regular-season games came during the 1994 strike, when the final third of the season and the World Series were canceled.
It’s been widely reported that MLB owners are going to make an unprecedented push for a salary cap in the next CBA, something the MLBPA has repeatedly stated a strong opposition to. As we saw in 1994, players are willing to sit out games when owners have pushed for an MLB salary cap.
Unfortunately, it seems increasingly likely that there will be an MLB lockout in December 2026 that immediately impacts free agency and likely wipes out a portion of the 2027 regular season. With both sides dug in on their stances and having prepared themselves financially for a work stoppage, the biggest losers could be the fans and stadium workers along with the entirety of Minor League Baseball.
