MLB Proposes $245M Salary Cap, $171M Floor and Expanded Revenue Sharing in CBA Talks

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said Wednesday he worries labor negotiations could produce a long work stoppage like the 1994-95 strike that eliminated 948 regular-season games and the entire 1994 postseason. "Of course I do," Manfred said during the owners meetings in New York.

He noted the league had offered proposals on several topics and restated that owners seek a framework addressing competitive balance.

"We made a proposal on one set of topics," Manfred said. 2 million. The union has long opposed salary caps and instead offered changes inside the existing competitive balance tax system that began in 2003, including a competitive-integrity tax on low-spending clubs.

The current collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1. If no new deal is reached by then, owners are expected to lock out players. The last lockout began when the prior agreement expired in December 2021 and lasted 99 days before a March 2022 settlement.

Manfred, who served as a junior lawyer on the owners' bargaining team in 1994, said the league had tried repeatedly to use the competitive balance tax to fix competitive issues. "We have tried mightily over several rounds of bargaining to use a competitive balance tax to address competitive concerns," he said. " MLB officials have pointed to the Los Angeles Dodgers as an example of imbalance.

The Dodgers paid $346 million in player salaries and $169 million in luxury tax penalties last season, with the tax bill alone exceeding the Miami Marlins' entire payroll by $100 million. 35 billion local television contract that averages $334 million per year through 2039. Under MLB's proposal, local television revenue would be separated from other local revenue and shared evenly among clubs.

Teams currently share 48 percent of local revenue. Manfred said he believes "there is unanimous support among the 30 clubs" for the change. "I think that the Dodgers understand there is a need to update the overall economic model in the industry and that the upside associated with that, in terms of growing the industry, growing the popularity of the sport, is big for large markets, small markets, owners and players in every way," Manfred said.