The Major League Baseball Players Association is putting aside money in anticipation of the end of the collective bargaining agreement, as it routinely does. Jorge Castillo of ESPN and Evan Drellich of The Athletic report that the union has about $519MM in total assets, as of the start of this year.
It is standard practice for both MLB and the MLBPA to set aside money in a CBA year, as having a war chest could be needed for a work stoppage or for leverage in negotiations. Back in February, it was reported that the league had set aside about $2 billion. No details on the MLBPA’s funds were available until this week.
As both Castillo and Drellich point out, the MLBPA war chest has more than doubled relative to the last round of CBA talks. In 2021, just after the COVID-impacted 2020 season, the union had under $200MM on hand. Castillo reports they had $171MM ahead of the last round of negotiations, though Drellich puts them slightly higher at $192MM. Both reports note that the players have allowed the union to withhold licensing checks since 2024, in order to bolster the available funds.
After more than 25 years without a work stoppage, the league locked out the players in December of 2021. That lockout lasted 99 days until a new agreement was reached in early March, just in time to still play a full 162-game season, with some creative scheduling.
Many in the industry are expecting yet another lockout after the CBA expires on December 1st this year, with the bargaining perhaps becoming even more contentious. The game’s economic imbalances have seemingly widened. Clubs like the Dodgers and Mets continue to ramp up spending to record highs. Other clubs have been clutching the purse strings tightly, pointing to the decreased broadcast revenues as many fans cut cable cords and pivot to streaming.
The owners are expected to push for a salary cap, as they have done in the past. The players are opposed to a salary cap and will likely push for alternatives involving greater revenue sharing between clubs. Any salary cap proposal would be accompanied by a salary floor, which would likely require the smaller clubs to receive more money from the bigger clubs, in order to meet that floor. A notable shake-up of baseball’s finances seems inevitable, though the league and union will have different ideas about which changes are acceptable.
If the two sides can’t reach consensus on an acceptable framework, the possibility of losing games in 2027 would grow. Such an outcome would have negative consequences for baseball at a time when its popularity is on the upswing. Ratings and attendance have been increasing in recent years, with Game Seven of the 2025 World Series the most-watched game since 1991. The recent World Baseball Classic had TV ratings comparable with the most recent NBA finals. Cutting into that popularity could be costly since a large number of the league’s broadcast deals expire after the 2028 season.
Even if the two sides can avoid cancelling games in 2027, a lockout is still widely expected. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has spoken positively about how a lockout affects negotiations. In the wake of those comments, then-executive director of the MLBPA Tony Clark said the union expects to be locked out. Clark recently resigned under the shroud of scandal with deputy director Bruce Meyer taking over on an interim basis.
Speaking of Clark, during his tenure, concerns were raised about an MLBPA-owned company called Players Way. The company came under federal investigation as the union seemed to be diverting millions of dollars to it without the company doing much with that money. The union hired a law firm to conduct an internal investigation in response to those concerns, as well as the investigation of OneTeam Partners, a joint venture with the NFLPA. That internal probe reportedly uncovered messages between Clark and his sister-in-law, an MLBPA employee, which led the union to seek his resignation. This week, both Castillo and Drellich report that Players Way has now been shut down.
Photo courtesy of Evan Petzold, Imagn Images
How much of the funds did tony clark take with him before he resigned?
lemme hold a couple dollars
You got a Dolla I can have
I need about tree fiddy.
They know two thirds of owners are demanding changes and what that means.
Tony Clark is an idiot. Enough said about him now that he is no longer part of this.
He’s as much a criminal as many of the owners, just using slightly different methods.
He did it The Payers Way 🎶
Drellich was proven wrong in 2021 and how much do you want to bet that he is off by a factor of 5 like he was back then?
$2Billion for Owners, $500M for players, and those numbers will get higher. Franchise values continue to rise. Golden Goose ready to be killed-short-term for even more riches down the line. Good thing the tax payers and local fans always ready to step up? Someone has to pay.
I hate to be ‘that guy’ but who cares about the financial well-being of an organization meant to protect an extremely select group of people consisting of people who are, arguably (because there’s going to be another ‘that guy’) well-off?
Which game are you interested in? The one on the field, the one on your betting app, the one in the boardroom or is there another ‘to be named later’?
MLB players and owners have been shooting the fans in their feet its astounding we’re still standing.
I like it when people are” that guy “ 🤝👌
If only franchise value did more than allow a team to get into debt. That San Diego is getting higher bids than the NYM sold for, SD being in one of the smallest markets, while the Mets are in one of the largest, is downright stupid. Just to pay the loan will cause SDP to be unable to compete. What bank will be dumb enough to finance this disaster? Get ready for a sell off. This is also a great reason for a strike. Minnesota couldn’t even get an offer.
I’m not sure about today but some years ago the Padres market was considered small but the ‘experts’ didn’t consider the over the border market. at the time it wasn’t really known how big it was, but it was significant enough for other ‘experts’ to say that they really are not a small market. like the As were.
Both sides leadership groups should be negotiating ~40 hours a week instead of hoarding money like dragons.
You don’t start negotiating until you’ve tried to leverage yourself into the most powerful position possible, which in this case means building a warchest that lets you say “lockout? fine, we’re ready for it.”
The players way was always $$$
Chad do you think the owners are any different?
This reporting always seems to get the fundamental issues wrong. If the teams are, in fact, complaining about revenue imbalances, they can easily solve that issue between them. This would also be the solution to improving competitive balance, if, in fact, the team owners are genuinely concerned about it (which, I doubt). The real conflict is over how the game’s revenue is split between the owners and players. Ownership pushes for a salary cap because they want to keep more of it for themselves. So, this isn’t very complicated after all — if you don’t try to hang too many ornaments on the tree.
its pretty to see when you got a single player making nearly as much as a “small market” franchises total value over the course of the years.. there is a problem. fixing it in a fair way well.. no one wants to agree.
This is an owners’ problem where players are being asked to pay for.
I don’t understand why they aren’t already in serious negotiations. I know the players have the games, but most of the negotiations can be done by professional negotiators, then bring in the Players Committee when they’re close to a deal on a point. It would suck a little for those on the committee, but isn’t a bit of OT, much of which they could do on travel days, worth it to avoid a work stoppage that costs everyone?
And can we please allow the trading of draft picks? There’s no good reason this can’t be included, like the other major sports.
C’mon hyrax. You KNOW in ANY situation nothing gets done until there’s a deadline.