Clark: MLBPA expecting lockout after 2026 season
MLBPA executive director Tony Clark is expecting a lockout when the collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2026 season.
"Unless I am mistaken, the league has come out and said there's going to be a work stoppage," Clark said Friday, according to Sportico's Barry Bloom. "So, I don't think I'm speaking out of school in that regard."
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told The Athletic's Evan Drellich in January that offseason lockouts can be seen as a positive to motivate both sides in negotiations.
The league and the players' association had a contentious negotiation that resulted in a three-month lockout after the expiration of the CBA following the 2021 season. The two sides eventually reached a deal on a five-year CBA. The dispute led to the season being delayed by one week.
Many fans and a handful of owners have pointed to the league needing a salary cap to increase parity and help keep the spending habits of teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets more in check.
The players' association has consistently rejected pushes for a cap, something Clark expects to remain the case in the next round of negotiations. Clark did acknowledge that the MLBPA might be open to a salary floor of some kind.
"During the last round of bargaining, we had that conversation," Clark said of a salary floor. "Except the response is every time you talk about a floor, there has to be a cap. And that's not accurate. You don't have to have a cap in order to have a floor. The union isn't against one."
Clark added that simply implementing a salary cap isn't likely to have the immediate impact that many might expect.
"I will say this: There are ways of addressing the system that aren't salary- or cap-related or require the restrictions of player salaries as the answer to every one of these questions," Clark said.
Clark has been at the helm of the MLBPA since 2013. He's the first former player to act as executive director of the players' association.