The Athletic’s Evan Drellich reported that MLB owners will push to discuss a salary cap at this week’s meetings in Florida and that “another lockout appears likely when the CBA expires at midnight entering December 2nd.”
Considering baseball’s ratings are up across the board over the last two seasons, it would be devastating for the sport to endure another lockout. However, not everybody seems to agree, as commissioner Rob Manfred seemed to suggest that lockouts should be considered normal. “In a bizarre way, it’s actually a positive,” he said last month. “The great thing about offseason lockouts is the leverage that exists gets applied between the bargaining parties.” Meanwhile, MLBPA executive director Tony Clark has strongly expressed the opposite opinion: “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.” The MLBPA has said in the past that they will not accept a salary cap, so if the owners do decide that it’s something they all agree on to address the revenue disparity between smaller- and larger-market teams, we could be looking at another shutdown. The cap isn’t the only issue on the table as Drellich said, “Manfred wants to change the way the league handles TV distribution...he wants to significantly alter revenue sharing, the way teams share money amongst themselves. Those are difficult issues politically amongst clubs, one that a cap could help smooth over.”
