ATLANTA -- Calling it "institutionalized collusion," MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark on Tuesday reiterated that he remains vehemently opposed to installing a salary cap after baseball's labor deal expires following the 2026 season as owners and commissioner Rob Manfred have increasingly called for changes to the sport's economic system to improve competitive balance.
"A cap is not about any partnership," Clark said. "A cap is not about growing the game. That's not what a cap is about. As has been offered publicly, a cap is about franchise values and profits. That's what a cap is about.
"If there are ways that we need to improve the existing system, to polish some of the rough edges that otherwise exist, we have made proposals to do that. We will continue to make proposals to do that and believe that that's the best way to go."
Clark and Manfred separately addressed members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America hours before Tuesday's MLB All-Star Game, touching on a variety of topics surrounding the game. But hanging over it all, as all discussions about the league's future have since the current CBA was ratified in 2022, was the sport's economic structure.
The union believes Manfred is pushing for a cap as he meets with teams across the majors for the third straight year -- and setting the stage for an ugly collective bargaining negotiation that could cost the league games for the first time since the 7 1/2-month player strike in 1994-95, which was fueled by a stalemate over a cap.
"No one's talking about it, but we all know that they're going to lock us out for it, and then we're going to miss time," New York Mets All-Star first baseman Pete Alonso said Monday during All-Star media availability. "We're definitely going to fight to not have a salary cap and the league's obviously not going to like that."
Manfred, however, rejected that he's pushing players for a salary cap.
"First of all, when I talk to players, I don't try to convince them that a salary cap system would be a good thing," Manfred said. "Literally, what I say to them is, I identify a problem in the media business and explain to them that owners need to change that problem. I then identify a second problem, that we need to work together [on], and that is that our fans in a lot of our markets who feel like we have a competitive balance problem."
Manfred referenced the revenue lost in local media rights deals in recent years as reason for MLB, which remains the only major North American sports league without a salary cap, to overhaul its economic system.
"I never use the word salary within one of cap," Manfred said. "What I do say to them is in addressing this competitive issue that's real, we should think about this system is the perfect system from a player's perspective. And my only goal there is to not convince them of one system or another, but to convince them that everybody going to the table with an open mind to try to address a problem that's fan-driven leads to a better collective bargaining process and a better outcome."
Calls for structural change from owners have grown increasingly louder as a few teams, led by the Los Angeles Dodgers and Mets, have ignored tax penalties with aggressive spending.
The Dodgers, as it stands, are projected to spend approximately $563 million on payroll and luxury taxes this season. The Mets are projected to spend $409 million, followed by the New York Yankees at $359 million and the Philadelphia Phillies at $332 million. Meanwhile, 10 clubs are projected to spend less than $150 million, with the Chicago White Sox ($90.9 million) and Miami Marlins ($84.7 million) at the bottom.
Clark, as expected, maintained the matter could be adequately addressed without installing a cap.
"A salary cap, historically, has limited contract guarantees associated," Clark said. "Literally, [it] pits one player against another, and [that] is often what we share with players as the definitive noncompetitive system. It doesn't reward excellence. It undermines it from an organizational standpoint. That's why this is not about competitive balance. It's not about a fair versus not. This is institutionalized collusion. That's what a salary cap is.
"And, so, we don't know what it is they're going to propose. We know what it is they're saying they're interested in. We'll get in the room, and we'll see what it is they propose."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.