Talks have come to a halt after the MLBPA unanimously rejected the league’s final offer before its Tuesday deadline. Major issues such as the competitive balance tax thresholds, the minimum salary, and the size of a new pre-arbitration bonus pool left the sides too far apart to meet the deadline.
Despite some progress in more than 16 hours of bargaining a night earlier, negotiations between players and owners did not produce a new deal Tuesday by a 5 p.m. ET deadline instituted by MLB, with no extension given. Negotiations have ended for the immediate future and the sides are expected to leave Florida, where they’ve bargained with each other for nine straight days.
Shortly before MLB made its final offer Tuesday, a commissioner’s office official accused the players of changing their tone. A statement to reporters read: “We thought that there was a path to a deal last night and that both sides were closing on in on the major issues. They couldn’t make us a CBT proposal last night so we agreed to extend the deadline to exhaust every option. The MLBPA has a decidedly different tone today and made proposals inconsistent with the prior discussions. We will be making our best offer before the 5 p.m. deadline for the MLBPA that’s a fair deal for players and clubs.”
Soon after the final offer was rejected, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced in a press conference that regular season games will be canceled. Said Manfred: “I had hoped against hope I wouldn’t have to have this press conference where I am going to cancel some regular season games. We worked hard to avoid an outcome that’s bad for our fans, bad for our players, and bad for our clubs. Our failure to reach an agreement was not due to a lack of effort by either party.” Manfred added the first two series of the 2022 season will not be played as scheduled. Opening Day was originally scheduled for Thursday, March 31, and has been pushed back at least one week.
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