Powerful MLB owner pushes salary floor, igniting CBA talks
With nearly two full seasons left on the current collective bargaining agreement , Major League Baseball is already bracing for a labor war.
That negotiations are making headlines in February before spring training is in full swing says plenty about the tensions simmering beneath the surface.
Some of it is circumstantial.
Once the regular season begins, attention will shift to actual baseball rather than the looming labor fight.
But Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner just said the quiet part out loud, making it clear that owners are pushing for a hard salary cap .
The twist? Hed only support it with a caveat: a mandated salary floor.
While the baseball world fixated on the Yankees' latest tweak to their facial hair policy , Steinbrenner was making actual headlines.
One of the games most powerful owners openly backed a salary floor an admission that could reshape labor negotiations far more than any sideburn rule ever will.
"I have been on the record already saying that I would consider supporting a cap, depending on what the cap is and contingent on the fact that theres also a floor so that clubs that I feel arent spending enough money on payroll to improve their team would have to spend more," Steinbrenner told NJ.com's Randy Miller .
The Yankees have been among the top three in payroll in 16 of the 17 seasons since Steinbrenner became the controlling owner in 2008.
Last season, they were one of four teams hit with the stiffest Competitive Balance Tax penalties, paying $62.5 million while also seeing their first-round draft pick drop 10 slots due to exceeding the highest tax threshold .
"The concern to me isIve said this till Im blue in the face, and I had to change my numbers because times have changed from 10 years agobut we have great people here," Steinbrenner said, via Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News .
"We have a good player development system, good young players that have come up.
Should I really need a $300 million-plus payroll to win a championship? Does having a huge payroll really increase my chances that much of winning a championship? Im not sure theres a strong correlation there.
Having said that, were the New York Yankees.
We know what our fans expect.
Were always going to be among the highest in payroll.
Thats not going to change, and certainly didnt change this year.
Were right there." This is the paradox of Steinbrenners comments.
Hes arguing that massive payrolls dont necessarily equate to championships and recent history backs him up.
In the wild-card era (since 1995), 21 of 30 World Series winners ranked in the top 10 in Opening Day payroll, but since 2009, only three teams in the top three have won it all: the 2018 Red Sox and the 2020 and 2024 Dodgers.
The Yankees havent won since 2009 despite their spending.
As of Sunday, the Yankees rank fourth in payroll at $277.8 million, per Spotrac .
Its hard to give billionaire owners much credit, and Steinbrenner isnt pushing for a salary floor out of pure goodwill.
But his stance acknowledges reality: a hard cap wont happen without a concession.
Its also a direct shot at lower-spending owners.
Some clubs invest heavily in their rosters; others take revenue-sharing checks and avoid meaningful payroll increases.
Steinbrenners words wont reshape the league overnight, but they expose the fractures forming among owners.
If the Yankees owner is calling for a salary floor, how long before other big-market teams join the push? And how much longer can lower-spending clubs resist? The CBA battle isnt just heating up its already begun.
Colin Cerniglia is an Amazon bestselling author, co-host of the "2 Jocks and a Schlub" podcast from Blue Wire, and a contributor to The Charlotte Observer.
With a deep passion for baseball and college football, he offers extensive knowledge and enthusiasm to his writing.
Colin resides in Charlotte, NC, with his wife and two daughters.
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