MLB and the Players Association (MLBPA) exchanged initial proposals last week for a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA), and it remains clear economics of the sport is going to be the biggest sticking point in negotiations.
A growing belief that MLB owners would pursue a salary cap became official as that hard line — along with a floor — was presented to the union. MLBPA interim executive director Bruce Meyer immediately responded that players remain steadfast against MLB implementing a salary cap.
While CBA negotiations will continue over the coming months, a loud, if not unexpected voice, has entered the fray. While speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One, President Donald Trump put his support behind team owners.
“Don’t they have one already,” Trump initially answered when asked for his thoughts on MLB possibly implementing a salary cap. “If you don’t have a salary cap you don’t have a sport, because they can’t help themselves. You know, in sports, they can’t help themselves. Football has a salary cap.
“They should have done it a long time ago,” Trump added, in reference to MLB standing as the only league of North American professional sports to not have a salary cap. “I know so much about sports. They should have done it a long time ago. … Major League Baseball, it’s shocking, frankly, that they didn’t put a cap on many years ago.
“They had a chance to do a cap, and they blew it.”
The last time owners and MLBPA were at odds over a possible cap system came in 1994, and it led to the players going on strike for 232 days. One of the fallouts from that contentious period was the cancellation of the 1994 World Series.
The strike ended on April 2, 1995, when then-U.S. District Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who now serves on the U.S. Supreme Court, issued a preliminary injunction against team owners and ruled they and the players needed to use the terms of the expired CBA until a new one could be agreed to.
Donald Trump involved in sports
Trump choosing to weigh in on MLB CBA negotiations is far from surprising. He’s attempting to usher in landmark change with collegiate athletics amid the creation of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL), and Trump previously claimed credit for improving the potential of Pete Rose posthumously getting inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame after he was removed from MLB’s restricted list.
Trump has also publicly been critical of MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, and with respect to the Los Angeles Dodgers, manager Dave Roberts landed in his crosshairs for a pitching decision involving Rich Hill during the 2018 World Series.
Of course, the Dodgers have also visited the White House to celebrate a World Series championship during Trump’s term, and are expected to do so again later this year.
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