MLB News, Rumors 2015: The Next Big Issue for the MLBPA
The current collective bargaining agreement between Major League Baseball and its players union runs through the 2016 season. Already there is word of what could be a major sticking point in the next round of negotiations. That issue will be team salaries limits being limited by the financing the owners use to purchase the team. With sports franchises values skyrocketing this will likely be the number one issue in all of the major sports as their current labor contracts expire.
MLBPA President Ton Clark had this to say as reported by MLB Trade Rumors, "Cubs aside, larger picture, any time there are contractual obligations or language that affect the way a team functions, against the backdrop of the decisions that they are going to be making, against whatever restrictions are in place, we enter that equation. Rest assured, we're interested enough to be involved in the conversation."
Clark refers to the heavily financed purchase of the Chicago Cubs by the Ricketts family that has had that team operating under a vastly reduced payroll for the past few years. Since the purchase the average spent on payroll by the team has fallen nearly 50 million dollars. Of course the Cubs did make a big acquisition this off season in Pitcher Jon Lester.
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How this plays out over the next two seasons will be something that all parties will keep their eye on. As the cost of purchasing teams increases significantly even the wealthiest of people cannot afford to purchase a team by themselves or without huge financing packages. Those packages could include spending limits and Clark has made that any contract containing that sort of language will be a union issue.
Cubs President Theo Epstein points out that his team did max out its payroll dollars last year and has done so again this year. Last year the team had an opening day payroll of 107 million dollars which is still significantly less than the high under the previous ownership.
