PHILADELPHIA — In the latest salvo in the ongoing public negotiations between Major League Baseball and its players’ union, interim MLBPA chief Bruce Meyer derided a recent advertising campaign for the league’s salary cap proposal.
“The supposed stewards of the game have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to convince fans that they shouldn’t have hope, or that they don’t have hope, or that the product they’re paying to consume in record numbers is somehow broken,” Meyer said Tuesday morning in a news conference with the Baseball Writers Association of America before the All-Star Game. “It’s perverse.”
He added, “Why does it make sense to have fans throughout the game be watching ads about how, ‘Well, you really should be in favor of a salary cap’?”
Meyer was referencing the prevalence of MLB’s “Level The Playing Field” campaign, which has been running on MLB.TV. The ads suggest fans support a cap system, which the league formally proposed in May. In a news conference shortly after Meyer spoke, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred defended the ads, which stemmed from the MLBPA’s effort to publicize competing proposals during the early stages of bargaining.
“When you have a difficult public issue, particularly when the other side on the issue is being very public on what their views are on the negotiation, it’s incumbent on us to keep our fans informed on our view of the world,” Manfred said. “Particularly, given, you know, sometimes, the other side may not be completely accurate or fair, in terms of their recitation of what’s going on. It seems kind of like a basic thing, to me. Not that hard.”
The tension between the two sides has simmered throughout the season and figures to continue into the winter. The current collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1. If the two sides cannot make a new deal before then, the owners are expected to lock out the players, as they did after the 2021 season. Unlike the previous lockout, though, the owners are pushing for a cap system, similar to what’s in place in the NFL, NBA and NHL. The MLBPA has insisted it will never accept a cap.
Against that backdrop, the two sides have spent the past few months volleying proposals in the public eye. Under the leadership of Meyer, who assumed the top role in the union after Tony Clark’s ouster in February, the MLBPA has opted to “be more transparent than ever with respect to our proposals,” Meyer said. Meyer has made himself available to reporters often during the early stages of this process, both when the league makes offers and when the union makes offers.
MLB has opted for a different approach, which includes the MLB.TV ads.
“I don’t think you’re going to see me or (deputy commissioner) Dan Halem holding press conferences every time we have a meeting,” Manfred said. “But I do think it’s important to share information with our fans. Because as the process unfolds, opinions shift, and that’s significant for us.”
