Following an extension of Monday’s unofficial deadline, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players’ Association failed to conclude a new collective bargaining agreement on Tuesday to end the owner’s lockout. MLB, which set a 17:00 ET deadline on Tuesday for a deal, did what it called its “final” offer on Tuesday afternoon, which was unanimously rejected by the union, on numerous reports. Shortly afterwards, Commissioner Rob Manfred announced at a press conference that a regular 2022 season would be canceled.
“I was hoping, despite the hope, that I would not need this press conference to cancel some regular season games,” Manfred said Tuesday afternoon. “We worked hard to avoid a result that is bad for our fans, bad for our players and bad for our clubs. Our failure to reach an agreement is not due to a lack of effort on either side.”
The next step is uncertain – the two countries could certainly continue to bargain – although they are likely to suspend their meetings in Florida and regroup. MLB is expected to announce that the Opening Day will be postponed, although perhaps not immediately. The two sides could make a last-ditch effort to reach an agreement that would save the regular season later this week.
Representatives from both sides arrived in Jupiter, Florida, around 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday and met face to face for the first time around 1:30 p.m., after players held a conference call to discuss their proposal. according to Evan Drelic of The Athletic. Although optimism prevailed after Monday’s marathon 16-hour bargaining session, Tuesday took a step back, at least to hear league sources say so. However, the union opposed this feature of Tuesday morning’s events:
The two countries seem to be furthest from each other in terms of what the payroll tax will look like in the future. The CBT, which has become a type of salary cap, has in the past imposed sanctions on teams that exceed certain salary levels. The Union, of course, would prefer these levels to be much higher than what the league offers.
However, this is not the only important issue that needs to be resolved. There is still a division when it comes to the minimum wage and the size of the theoretical pool of bonuses for players before the arbitration. Although everything is still fluid on all fronts until an agreement is reached, the playoffs with 12 teams seem likely to move forward.
To repeat, there are significant gaps on many fronts.
MLB originally set a deadline on Monday (February 28) to reach an agreement before canceling regular season matches and postponing the 2022 Opening Day. CBS Sports provided a timeline of the block here, but the short version is that the owners have put the padlocks when the previous CBA expired on December 1 – exactly three months ago. They were not obliged to do so, but this was described as a defensive maneuver. The league then waited more than six weeks to make its first offer. Since then, the two sides have held a series of personal talks.
CBS Sports provides live updates for Tuesday’s talk. You can follow below.