Ratings are up across the sport.Attendance league-wide has consistently increased, with some teams seeing significant growth already in 2026.
All this momentum, however, could be squandered after the 2026 season.How? By an extended lockout.Negotiations between the league's owners and the MLB Players Association have already started, and predictably, they're already contentious.
Players, sensitive to the gap in revenue between big market and small market teams, have proposed increased revenue sharing that would be distributed from richer teams to less successful ones.Any team that does not reach $150 million in player payroll would be penalized.Local television revenue would be more aggressively redistributed, while a higher percentage of income from home stadiums would remain with the teams.
Essentially, the more you win, the more fans buy tickets, the more money you get to keep.MLB OWNERS ALREADY PUSHING BACK ON PLAYERS' FIRST CBA PROPOSAL AS WORK STOPPAGE LOOMS AFTER 2026 SEASONLos Angeles Dodgers chairman and controlling owner Mark Walter watches game five of the 2021 National League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves at Dodger Stadium on Oct.21, 2021.
The Dodgers defeated the Braves 11-2.(Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports)Owners, of course, balked.
Their counterproposal set out a $245.3 million salary cap, and a $171.2 million payroll floor.Sounds great, right? The floor is higher than the players' proposed penalty level, and the cap would impact just six teams this year.
Fans, especially those of small-market teams, were thrilled.Redistribute television revenues and compress spending.
Surely, that will allow teams that spend less money to compete, right?"Our salary cap and floor proposal levels the playing field while sharing baseball revenue with the players 50/50 as we grow the game together," said MLB spokesman Glen Caplin in a statement."Further, by sharing media revenue equally as part of our proposal, we can address another top fan concern of...