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President Donald Trump has tried his hand at helping college sports, and if it were up to him, he’d probably do the same for Major League Baseball.
The league’s current collective bargaining agreement expires in December, and with the sides perhaps as far apart as they’ve been since 1994, the 2027 season is in limbo.
Many may remember the 2022 season was delayed because of an owners’ lockout after the expiration of the previous CBA that December. However, the sentiment at the time among baseball experts was, if you thought that was bad, wait until 2026.
Well, 2026 is here, and they weren’t kidding. The owners, for the first time since 1994, have formally proposed a salary cap, which players have said is nonnegotiable.
Ahead of Tuesday’s MLB All-Star Game, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred spoke to reporters, and one asked whether he thought Trump would intervene in the negotiations.
Manfred did not want to “speculate” about Trump’s potential involvement.
“Look, I think it would be wildly, wildly inappropriate for me to speculate what the president of the United States might do or not do in a hypothetical situation,” Manfred said. “We know this. He’s a great sports fan, and he is really knowledgeable about the business of sports, so it doesn’t surprise me.”
Manfred did say, however, that Trump is “interested,” but it doesn’t yet seem he wants his help.
“Behind that, I’m going to pass,” he said.
Last month, Trump said it is “shocking” the league does not yet have a salary cap.
MLB PLAYERS, OWNERS AT ODDS OVER POTENTIAL OLYMPIC PARTICIPATION, INCLUDING PUNISHMENT FOR DECLINING: REPORT
“If you don’t have a salary cap, you don’t have a sport. They can’t help themselves. In sports, they can’t help themselves. Football has a salary cap. They should have done it a long time ago. I know so much about sports, they should have done it a long time ago…
“Major League Baseball — it’s shocking, frankly, that they didn’t put a cap on many years ago. They had a chance to do a cap, and they blew it.”
The White House did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.
Major League Baseball is in serious danger of losing games, excluding the COVID-shortened 2020 season, for the first time since the 1995 season was reduced to 144 games as the players’ strike stretched into the following year. The 1994 postseason was even canceled, and the sport was hanging by a thread.
Now, baseball is seeing another boom, as rule changes implemented by Manfred have helped games move more quickly, bringing more fans into ballparks. Attendance could increase for a fourth consecutive year for the first time since 2004-07. It is not currently on pace to do so, but the summer is still young.
“The best way to lose momentum is to stand still,” Manfred said.
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Earlier this year, Trump held a college sports roundtable and signed an executive order focused on “saving college sports.” Unlike the NHL, NBA and NFL, MLB has never had a salary cap.
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