Last week, the MLB owners and the MLBPA representatives met formally for the first time to kick off negotiations for a new CBA; the current CBA ceases to exist after 11:59PM on December 1, 2026. I doubt that this was a serious bargaining session; rather, I suspect it was time for all the parties involved to introduce themselves to all the other participants and for both sides to set forth the rectitude of their bargaining position(s).
Everyone agrees that the owners’ push for a salary cap will be THE issue in all these talks, and I agree it will be the centerpiece until it is either included in the new agreement, or it is shelved as unattainable. On this one issue, I am firmly associated with the owners; I believe a salary cap – – AND a salary floor – – will increase parity in MLB and will force some of the parsimonious owners to open up their wallets a bit.
I suspect that the owners would love a cap without a floor, and I suspect that such a structure is not going to happen. I believe it was Don Imus who described some unlikely political outcome in this way:
- I’ll see Tupac Shakur riding a unicorn down Fifth Avenue before I see – – whatever it was.
Regarding the next CBA containing a salary cap with no salary floor, I suspect that Tupac and his mount would be joined by Cleopatra paying her respects to Lady Godiva riding naked on a mastodon in this unlikely promenade. At first blush, one might think that the push for a salary cap is simply a means to control team salary costs and that would certainly be the case. However, I think there is a more subtle reason at work here:
- A salary cap – – with or without a salary floor – – allows for the major expenditure of the ball club to be projected accurately and that would make each franchise more valuable at the time of a sale.
- After all, this is all about money and very little else.
Another reason for the owners to want to have the ability to project costs well is that MLB’s national TV rights deals expire after the 2028 season. So, I expect the owners to push hard for a cap just as I expect the union to tell them to stick that in their ear(s).
Whenever there are CBA negotiations in sports, I like to point out that at some point the two sides need to recognize that they are partners in an enterprise that brings in a ton of money. Neither side would be arguing over how to share billions of dollars of revenue without the other side doing its part.
In the past couple of seasons, MLB and the union came together to implement several rule changes that have made baseball a more enjoyable fan product. When they did that cooperatively, it increased the revenue streams for MLB and added to the monies that now need to be shared by the two sides. Many pessimists believe there will be no new CBA by December 1st and that there could well be a “work stoppage” – – either a lockout or a strike – – that could eat into the 2027 regular season. The fringe element of the pessimists has opined that the entire 2027 season might be sacrificed to the acrimony of the negotiations. Do not count me as a “fringe pessimist”; I agree that a new CBA may not be signed, sealed and delivered by December 1st, but I believe there will be MLB in 2027.
At some point, cooler heads on both sides will likely emerge to point out that the last time there was a “work stoppage” and the 1994 season was halted in August, fans were unhappy with both sides, and it took several years to regain fan interest. These folks cannot be dumb enough to do that again … right?
Moving on … Earlier this week, I said that the Knicks and Cavaliers would need to spark interest in their Eastern Conference Finals given the great start the Spurs and Thunder presented in their first game of the Western Conference Finals. And perfectly on cue, the Knicks/Cavs Game 1 provided an abundance of interest. Here is the deal:
- The Cavs were up by 22 points late in the third quarter; the crowd was dead and the Knicks looked lifeless.
- Jalen Brunson has always been “streaky”, and he proceeded to go on a tear in the fourth quarter.
- The Knicks tied the game; sent it to OT and proceeded to win by 11 points.
Frankly, I think this was a coaching blunder by the Cavs staff. When Brunson is on one of his streaks, he is a difficult matchup for the best defenders in the league. The Cavs had James Harden guarding Brunson for the fourth quarter and Harden is not an elite defender by any measure. The Cavs did not need Harden’s offense in the fourth quarter up by 22 points; they needed someone to slow down Jalen Brunson – – and they did not do that.
Finally, this from Jerry Seinfeld:
“I am so busy doing nothing… that the idea of doing anything – which as you know, always leads to something – cuts into the nothing and then forces me to have to drop everything.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………