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MLB Commissioner and Union Head Hold Press Conferences on CBA Talks During All-Star Game
Rob Manfred and Bruce Meyer addressed ongoing negotiations in Philadelphia on July 14. The sides have exchanged proposals on salary caps, roster rules, and draft changes since May.
Jul 14, 4:58 PM·3m read1 source
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MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and interim MLB Players Association head Bruce Meyer held separate press conferences on July 14, 2026, in Philadelphia on the day of the All-Star Game. Manfred said he had an ownership group more united than any in his time in baseball and that the group believes in what he is arguing for.
Meyer said the supposed stewards of the game had spent an inordinate amount of time trying to convince fans they do not have hope or that the product they are paying to consume in record numbers is broken, calling the effort perverse.
CBS Sports reported that the two sides are negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement. The MLBPA on July 1 proposed expanding active rosters from 26 to 28 players with a 14-pitcher maximum for the first 15 days of the regular season. It also proposed allowing placement of players on the 60-day injured list as early as the November tender deadline, reducing permissible in-season optional assignments per player from five to three, accelerating eligibility for the Rule 5 Draft with a draft guaranteed in 2026 and each year of the next CBA, providing service time and salary protections to pitchers optioned over the All-Star break or after meeting performance thresholds, and enabling all players to access club-collected non-proprietary performance data and video.
On June 25 MLB proposed a maximum contract length of five years for players switching teams and six years for players remaining with their original team under a new Cornerstone Player provision, both contingent on union acceptance of a payroll cap. Based on the league's proposed 2027 cap figure, the maximum contract for a switching player would be $202 million over five years and $265 million over six years for a player staying with the same team.
MLB also proposed increasing the minimum salary to $1 million for players with at least two years of service and to $900,000 for those with less than two years with a possible $100,000 bonus from the pre-arbitration pool, eliminating deferred contracts, accepting free agency after five years for players age 30 or older, and accepting elimination of the qualifying offer system, all contingent on a cap.
