Following an extension of Monday’s unofficial deadline, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players’ Association failed to reach a new collective bargaining agreement to end the owner’s lockout on Tuesday. MLB, which set a 17:00 ET deadline for the deal, made what it called its “best and final offer” on Tuesday afternoon, which was unanimously rejected by the union. Shortly afterwards, Commissioner Rob Manfred announced at a press conference that regular season matches would be canceled.
“I was hoping without hope that I would not need this press conference to cancel some regular season games,” said Manfred. “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.”
Manfred added that the first two series of the 2022 season will not be played on schedule. The opening day was originally scheduled for Thursday, March 31, and was postponed at least a week. Manfred laughed and joked as he worked his way through part of Tuesday’s press conference, and that was not lost on the players.
“Today is a sad day. We came to Florida to find our way and negotiate fair collective bargaining. Despite daily meetings, there is still significant work to be done,” MLBPA CEO Tony Clark said on Tuesday. “The reason we don’t play is simple: the lockout is the best economic weapon. In a $ 10 billion industry, owners have decided to use this weapon against their biggest asset: the players.
The MLBPA issued the following statement Tuesday night:
Rob Manfred and MLB owners have canceled the start of the season. Players and fans around the world who love baseball are disgusted, but unfortunately not surprised.
Since the beginning of these negotiations, the players’ goals have been consistent – to promote competition, to provide fair remuneration for young players and to maintain the integrity of our market system. Against the background of growing revenues and record profits, we are looking for nothing more than a fair agreement.
What Rob Manfred describes as a “defensive lockout” is actually the culmination of decades of ownership by the owners to break up our brotherhood of players. As in the past, this effort will fail. We are united and committed to negotiating a fair deal that will improve the sport for players, fans and everyone who loves our game.
“They have set a deadline here. We are ready to stay here and have a conversation tomorrow,” Clark said. “We want to return to New York. We are ready to go where we need to go back to the room and continue the dialogue that has begun.”
Tuesday marked three months since the lockout and the next step is uncertain. Manfred said the two sides would regroup at some point and continue talks, although “no agreement is possible until Thursday”. In all likelihood, the MLB and MLBPA will wait at least a few days before scheduling their next negotiating session.
“If it was only in my power or the ability of the clubs to reach an agreement, we would have an agreement,” said Manfred, who often emphasizes his ability to make deals, he said on Tuesday. “The difficult thing in this process is that we have to get an agreement from both sides.”
Representatives from both sides arrived on the scene in Jupiter, Florida, around 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday. They met face to face for the first time around 1:30 p.m., after the 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 led to a step back.
MLB initially set a deadline on Monday (February 28th) to reach an agreement before canceling regular season matches. CBS Sports has provided a timetable for the block here, but the short version is that the owners put the padlocks on when the previous CBA expired on December 1st. . The league then waited more than six weeks to make its first offer.
Here are five excerpts now that the owner’s deadline on Tuesday has come and gone.
1. Regular games will be skipped
To repeat, the Opening Day will be fun and regular season games will be missed now that MLB’s informal deadline has expired. This will be the first time baseball has lost regular season games due to a work stoppage following a 1994-95 strike. So far, a total of 90 games have been canceled.
“And what’s next? The calendar dictates that we will not be able to play the first two series of the regular season and these matches have been officially canceled,” Manfred said on Tuesday. “… Our position is games that will not be played, players will not be paid.”
It should be noted the length of the season, the method of payment of players and the schedule itself are the conditions of the workplace, subject to negotiation between MLB and MLBPA. Manfred cannot unilaterally declare that players will not be paid for missed games. In 2020, the union gave Manfred this power under their March agreement amid the pandemic, but it was a one-off move.
“Our position would be in the event of a cancellation of matches – this is a feature of any deal to get us back – we will want compensation and / or these games to be rescheduled,” MLBPA chief negotiator Bruce Meyer said on Tuesday.
2. The extended postseason may be off the table
The MLB and MLBPA reportedly agreed to an extended post-season framework with 12 teams on Monday, although the union had previously warned it would not agree to an extended post-season if players do not receive their full salaries in 2022. Now When regular season games (and potentially payroll) are missed, MLB may have to wait for an extended postseason.
It is important to note that MLB may agree to pay players their full salary for a reduced season, in which case the union is likely to agree to an extended field after the season. Ultimately, players can also benefit from the extended postseason. More post-season games equate to more ticket and door revenue, which equates to a larger post-season pool for players.
For now, expect to get the MLBPA to deal with the threat of withdrawing an extended postseason from the table now that regular season games will be missed. This does not mean that the two sides cannot reach an agreement that expands the post-season, it is just likely that the alliance will deepen and play hard with this lucrative item.
3. MLB is trying to deflect guilt
If you paid attention during the lockout, you may have noticed that MLB invariably describes its offerings as “productive” while portraying MLBPA’s offers as backward or excessive. The league is carefully playing the PR game, and that was true again late Monday night, after which they said the two sides were close to a deal, while the union warned they were still far from each other.
“We were also clear and consistent that there are big issues that we are very far from,” Mayer said. “That hasn’t changed. There have been and still are serious problems.”
Then, after receiving the MLBPA offer on Tuesday, the league said the players had a “decidedly different tone today and made proposals incompatible with previous discussions”. It was a transparent attempt to shift the blame for the lockout – the lockout started and continued from ownership – onto the players in the public opinion court. Understandably, the players were not happy.
Player’s agent Alan Walsh explained NHL Commissioner Gary Batman used the same tactic in 2005, arguing that the two sides were close to an agreement in an attempt to pressure players to accept a deal, even after the 2004-05 NHL season was canceled.
The entire MLB season has not yet been canceled, although it is clear that MLB is trying to shift the blame to the players. In the end, the owners chose to block the players, chose to wait 43 days to make their first offer, and chose to set artificial deadlines on Monday and Tuesday. This was (and still is) avoided, but instead the games will be skipped because the owners and Manfred say so.
4. MLB barely moves on the thresholds of the luxury tax
Perhaps the biggest problem at the table is the tax on the competitive balance (ie the tax on luxury) or the soft ceiling on baseball salaries. MLB rejected its proposal to increase penalties in the last 48 hours, although the countries remained very far from each other on the thresholds. Here is each party’s final proposal for a luxury tax:
2022 | $ 220 million | $ 238 million |
2023 | $ 220 million | $ 244 million |
2024 | $ 220 million | $ 250 million |
2025 | $ 224 million | $ 245 million |
2026 | $ 230 million | $ 263 million |
The luxury tax threshold was $ 210 million in 2021. MLB, offering a zero increase in 2023 and 2024, is a frivolous offer, given how much extra revenue the league is expected to accrue through the extended postseason and new national television contracts. starting this year (assuming baseball is played). “Slap in the face”, one player told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
MLB and MLBPA still differ on other issues – there is a difference of $ 55 million in the new pool of pre-arbitration bonuses and a difference of $ 25,000 in the minimum wage – although these gaps are considered more insurmountable than the luxury tax threshold. MLB’s revenue has increased by an average of eight percent annually since 2002, and their proposed increase in the luxury tax threshold from 2022-26 is a total of 4.5 percent.
“It’s important to look at CBT increase models over the last few agreements,” Manfred said on Tuesday, although those models are what the union opposes because the threshold has not risen as fast as revenue.
5. MLB did not issue a “last, best offer”
MLB described Tuesday’s offer as their “best and last offer” and not as “last, best offer” and there is an important distinction. “Last, best offer” is a phrase management used before declaring a legal stalemate, and a dead end would allow MLB to unilaterally implement Tuesday’s offer.
“We have never used the phrase ‘last, best final offer’ with the union,” Manfred said on Tuesday. “We said this was our best offer before the cancellation deadline. Our negotiations are deadlocked at the moment, but this is different from using the legal term “deadlock” and I will not do it right now. ”
In the event that Manfred declares a dead end, the MLBPA will no doubt respond by accusing him of unfair employment practices, and the National Labor Relations Council may file a complaint of failure to negotiate in good faith. In essence, a stalemate would lead both sides to appear before a judge.
So far, Manfred has not taken the necessary steps to declare a legal stalemate, instead saying that the owners “like to keep the idea that we are ready to return to the table and reach an agreement.”
CBS Sports provided live updates for Tuesday’s talks below.