MLB Owners Drop a Bombshell with Hard Salary Cap & Floor Counterproposal

[Matthew Nethercott]

Image courtesy of Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

The owners of Major League Baseball teams have made their counterproposal to what the players association lobbied for yesterday. With the rejection that MLB made to the players' association last night and what they countered with today, it seems we might be in for a long labor war that could cost games in 2027.

1. A Salary Cap/Floor

We all saw it coming. MLB owners have requested a salary cap with a ceiling set at $245.3M. This would mean seven teams --- The Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, Blue Jays, Phillies, Braves, and Astros --- would all need to lower their payrolls as they already exceed the cap, according to Spotrac. It's been known for years that the owners were going to fight for a salary cap to close the gap in money given to teams that have it in terms of competitive balance.

The proposal also includes a salary floor, which would be the minimum a team has to spend on payroll in a given season. The proposal has the floor set at $171.2 million per team. This would mean that fourteen teams --- The Royals, Angels, Reds, Brewers, Rockies, Pirates, Twins, Cardinals, Nationals, Athletics, Rays, White Sox, Marlins, and Guardians --- would all have to raise their payrolls to conform. Some teams, like the Guardians and Marlins, would have to increase their payrolls by between $85 and $100+ million per season. 

2. Centralizing TV Revenue

Another thing baseball has been trying to do for years is get rid of the Regional Sports Networks and house all the broadcasts under one national umbrella. This is because teams like the Yankees (YES Network) or the Dodgers (SNLA) own their own networks and profit from them. Because the teams own these networks, the money they make can be reinvested into that team, and a lot of the smaller market teams, like the Reds or Brewers, don't have this. We have already seen half the league join MLB's umbrella of broadcasts, but MLB wants all 30 teams under its umbrella. With this, the league would evenly distribute the money made by the RSNs among all 30 teams, even though some teams would have more viewers than others (like the Dodgers, who draw more eyes to their games than the Marlins).

The MLBPA's Response

Naturally, Bruce Meyer, the head of the MLB Players Association, issued a statement responding to what was outlined above. He focuses on the salary cap side, citing that the last time the owners pushed for a cap, "it led to the longest work stoppage in MLB history".

MLBPA interim executive director Bruce Meyer statement on MLB's cap proposal:

"The last time the owners made such an explicit push for a cap—over 30 years ago—it led to the longest work stoppage in MLB history. For generations, our members have fought against cap systems..." pic.twitter.com/dorc3kipN8

— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) May 28, 2026

Neither the owners nor the players want to miss games, but it seems like some sort of inevitability with just how far apart both sides are. The fight for a new CBA has begun.

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[Brock Beauchamp]

What am I missing here? A $171 million floor makes this wayyyyyyyyy. more appealing than I expected the owners' first offer to be.

[Parfigliano]

It's going to get really ugly.

[tonyrodney]

Seems like a specific percentage of revenue should be palatable to the PA. The main problem with that is clubs not having open books. Who determines what is revenue? What percent of revenue is supposedly going to the players now? If it is 47% now and MLB offers 50%, that sounds fair. Sticking point is determination of revenue and who checks the books. 

A long lockout will really hurt baseball in a major way. Soccer will push baseball aside possibly just as football and basketball passed baseball in the past.

[Permanent Twins Fan]

Yeah, this is going to get ugly. I think we can be pretty much certain that we will have a shortened or delayed season in 2027. We have a long ways to go, and I really doubt either side will be willing to make any compromises for a while. I really hope they get something figured out because as an avid baseball fan, a shortened season would be bad for players, owners, and  fans

[Hunter4848]

About time they bring parity to this sport

[BrianBrewerFanatic]

This could turn into the ways Politicians get paid on the side by outside income with special deals. They are all supposed to make about 200 k per year, yet they are all multi-millionaires. 

[Parfigliano]

41 minutes ago, BrianBrewerFanatic said:

This could turn into the ways Politicians get paid on the side by outside income with special deals. They are all supposed to make about 200 k per year, yet they are all multi-millionaires. 

Is there info baseball players have that isn't public that would allow them to front run markets and insider trade?

I doubt it.

[bean5302]

Source of revenue is not relevant. The floor and cap is what's relevant. The overall revenue of MLB is roughly estimated by a number of sources.

Any floor will come with a cap. Seems like a pretty generous offer from the owner side of things. I wonder if it's an overpay intentionally just to get the cap in there?

I'm not sure where this goes, but it ends with a much lower floor/cap/spending if there's another lockout with missed games. Baseball is already bleeding fans. After the last strike, it took years to recover with help from historical accomplishments fueled by PEDs.

[TopGunn22]

This IS going to get ugly, and I have to agree that I was surprised by MLB owners making such a seemingly generous offer.  I say "seemingly" because I have no idea what each team's specific financial situation is, just that there are quite obvious HUGE gaps between what the Dodgers/Yankees spend on salary vs. what Cleveland or the Reds do. 

A few years ago, the Dodgers discovered they were were Godzilla.  I'm not sure why it took so long and I'm not sure they will be willing to give up that hammer in their hand, but something needs to be done to close that gap and compel the Reds, Guardians, Twins and others to step it up from a payroll standpoint.  

But from a Public Relations standpoint, the owners have fired the first shot across the bough of the MLBPA and it seems to have put the MLBPA in a defensive posture.  The response by the MLBPA's interim director was pretty weak.  

[Brock Beauchamp]

2 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Any floor will come with a cap. Seems like a pretty generous offer from the owner side of things. 

You know I'm no fan of the owners, but offering a split in revenue, and a $171 million floor is beyond generous given their history. I feel like I'm missing something here because I fully expected the owners to start with something laughable like an $80 million floor.

[Ricky Vaughn]

I'm no fan of the owners either. However after the last strike it took 5 years for me to go to a game. If there is another one I think it will be the end for me. Been a Twins fan for 63 of my 71 years. If there is a strike I may watch an occasional game on TV but they won't ever get any of my money again.