The New CBA: MLB and MLBPA Come to an Agreement as the Clock Strikes Midnight

by | Dec 1, 2016 | Uncategorized |

Late Wednesday night, the MLB and the MLBPA were able to come to an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement just minutes before midnight and their 27-year no-work-stoppage record turned back into a pumpkin.

I sat down with ESPN baseball writer Buster Olney yesterday on “The Business of Sports” podcast to discuss the impending deadline and our predictions for the new CBA.

As Olney explained, many didn’t expect the negotiations to come down to the wire like they did, and he says much of this is due to new leadership on both sides of the negotiation: Tony Clark for the MLBPA and the MLB Commissioner, Rob Manfred. It’s hard to consider Manfred a rookie, however, because although this is his first CBA negotiation as Commissioner, he’s been a part of the MLB’s collective bargaining negotiations for more than two decades. Ideally, the League wanted to announce the new CBA by the All-Star Weekend, but a delayed start to discussion and back and forth negotiations led to a (significantly) delayed signing.

Despite this, the MLB and MLBPA managed to get it done and won’t have to renegotiate for another five years. Here are some of the components of the new CBA to keep an eye on.

International draft – Nope. The owners were pushing for it, but as Olney mentioned on the podcast, it was incredibly unlikely that the players would give in. That being said, the players did have to concede a yearly cap on international spending to keep the international draft off the table.

Qualifying offer system – It’s been overhauled. When a qualifying-offer player leaves for another team their former team will still be compensated with draft picks, just not first-rounders. Another win for the players.

Luxury-tax threshold – It’s staying the same. Well, for now. It’ll expand over the five years of the new deal.

Roster expansion – Also no. Despite rumors of rosters expanding to 26 players, they’ll remain at 25.

All-Star Game – The winner will no longer determine home-field advantage for the World Series. ASG managers can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Although the negotiations came down to the final minutes, both sides seemed to walk away relatively happy.

The NFL could certainly take a page out of baseball’s book on this one.

Who wasn’t happy? The agents. Olney says that in past negotiations agents were much more involved in the process, but his time around felt relatively left out. Although their presence isn’t required, it would do both the MLB and the MLBPA well to stay on the agents’ good side.

That being said, the MLB and the MLBPA have clear horizons for at least the next five years. For more on the MLB CBA follow Olney on Twitter and listen to the full podcast below.