With the collective bargaining agreement set to expire on Dec. 1, the MLB Players Association is suddenly looking for a new executive director. Tony Clark, the union’s leader since 2013, will reportedly resign amid federal investigations into financial impropriety. Clark and the MLBPA are being investigated over licensing money and also a youth baseball initiative.
“I think so,” Marcus Semien, a member of the MLBPA’s executive subcommitee, said when asked whether Clark is resigning due to the investigations. “Because up to this point, before any investigations, I’ve had the ultimate confidence in Tony Clark to lead this player group. I’ve had the ultimate confidence in Bruce Meyer to be the lead negotiator for this player group.”
Meyer, the union’s deputy director and lead negotiator, remains with the MLBPA. CBA negotiations typically begin in the spring and really heat up around Opening Day. It is unclear who could replace Clark, though the union will want a new executive director in place soon. Clark’s replacement must of course be voted on and approved by the players. Subcommittee member Brent Suter told The Athletic that there will be an interim leader to “keep everything as stable as we can this year.”
The timing of Clark’s resignation is definitely not great. CBA negotiations are always contentious and that will again be the case come December. The 2022-23 lockout lasted a record 99 days and commissioner Rob Manfred has made it pretty clear another lockout is coming. “In a bizarre way, it’s actually a positive,” Manfred said last year about a lockout.
Clark, 53, joined the union in 2010 and was unanimously approved as executive director following Michael Weiner’s death in December 2013. He oversaw two CBA negotiations and had three years to prepare for his first negotiation in 2016. His replacement will not have that luxury. The next executive director will jump right into CBA talks.
Here are six major issues Clark’s eventual replacement will have to tackle once CBA talks begin with MLB.
Salary cap
Long story short, CBA negotiations are about money. Everything else is secondary. There is a giant pile of money and the two sides haggle because they each want a bigger piece. MLB has done a good job selling a salary cap as necessary to improve competitive balance, but make no mistake, it is about money. Above all, a salary cap restricts player salaries and boosts franchise values.
MLB has pursued a salary cap since the 1880s. They seek one every CBA negotiation. The question this time is how dug in are the 30 owners? They could see Clark’s abrupt resignation as a moment of weakness for the union, and push harder for a salary cap than ever. (Remember, very few current owners were around to experience how much the 1994-95 strike damaged the game.)
The union has resisted a salary cap — MLB is the only non-capped league in North America — and figures to do so again this CBA negotiation. It is easy to be a doomer about these things and expect games to be missed in 2027, and maybe they will be, but it is way too early to say that for certain. MLB’s national television deals are up in 2028. Losing games would be terrible for business.
Also, a salary cap is not a simple yes or no item. Even if the MLBPA relents and agrees to a salary cap, the two sides have to agree on how the whole thing would work. What counts as baseball-related revenue and what percentage do the players receive? What’s the cap? What’s the floor? How do you implement it? The yes/no is the easy part. Figuring out the system is the real fight.
Revenue sharing
With or without a salary cap, the revenue sharing system is likely to be adjusted in the next CBA. Currently, every team puts 48% of its local revenue (local television deal, tickets, concessions, etc.) into the pot, then each team takes out an equal 1/30th share. Big-market teams pay more into revenue sharing than they take out. Small-market teams take out more than they pay in.
Baseball has always had a revenue disparity problem but it has never been this extreme. Between payroll and competitive balance tax, the Dodgers fielded a $516 million roster in 2025, or more than the bottom five payroll teams combined. Adjusting the revenue sharing program will pit the owners against each other. After that, they have to take it to the MLBPA and get the union’s approval too.
Arbitration
MLB has sought to eliminate the arbitration process and replace it with a pay-for-play formula, where player salary is determined strictly by their performance. Tarik Skubal’s recent record $32 million arbitration win is likely to ramp up those efforts. Arbitration is a key item for the MLBPA. They’re against anything that takes away a player’s ability to negotiate his salary. They’ll fight to keep arbitration.
Postseason expansion
The postseason only grows larger — it never shrinks — and playoff expansion has really ramped up in recent years. Here are how many teams qualified for the postseason throughout baseball history (ignoring the 2020 pandemic season):
- 1903-68: 2 teams (World Series only)
- 1969-93: 4 teams (Championship Series added)
- 1994-2011: 8 teams (Division Series added)
- 2012-21: 10 teams (Wild Card Game added)
- 2022-present: 12 teams (Wild Card Series added)
MLB pushed for a 14-team postseason field during the last CBA negotiation and the MLBPA held the line at 12 teams. That gives the union a negotiating chip this time around. The players want playoff expansion too. It means more players get a chance at a World Series and (more importantly) there’s more postseason revenue to go around. They will use it as a bargaining chip though.
I have no idea what the next CBA will bring (no one does right now), but I am more confident in it bringing a 14-team postseason field than I am anything else.
International draft
Amateur players in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico are subject to the draft every summer. Amateur players everywhere else in the world are free agents who can sign with any team. Once upon a time, teams could pay international free agents whatever they wanted. Nowadays it is still a free agent system, though there is a hard cap on spending in place each summer.
During the last CBA negotiation, MLB offered to eliminate the qualifying offer system in exchange for an international draft. The MLBPA said no. MLB will try again for an international draft because it will keep costs down. The union could use it as a bargaining chip — “We’ll give you an international draft for this, this, and that” — though they have opposed an international draft to date.
Expansion
MLB is in the middle of its longest expansion drought since the league first expanded in 1961. Manfred has said he wants to put the wheels in motion for expansion before he retires in January 2029. That does not mean there will be 32 teams for the 2029 season. It just means Manfred wants the process to begin. Soliciting expansion bids, reviewing proposals, that kind of thing.
The union will surely be on board with expansion because it means more roster spots and more jobs. I’m not sure baseball is ready for expansion (there’s barely enough pitching for 30 teams as it is), but it’s coming either way. Expansion is unlikely to be a sticking point during CBA talks. It’s just something that has to get put on the table and agreed to along the way.
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