Major League Baseball owners have revised their economic proposal for the next collective bargaining agreement, offering to delay a proposed salary cap and payroll floor until the 2028 season. The latest plan would set a hard cap at $258.2 million and a team payroll floor at $180.2 million, while leaving the current luxury-tax system in place for 2027.
The proposal came Tuesday as MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association continued negotiations ahead of the current labor agreement's Dec. 1 expiration. The union remains firmly opposed to any hard salary cap and said the revised offer does not address its central concerns about player compensation and contract rights.
MLB had previously proposed starting the cap-and-floor system in 2027 at lower levels. Its earlier framework called for a $245.3 million cap and a $171.2 million floor, but the league now says clubs need another offseason to prepare for such a major economic change.
MLB Says Cap and Floor Would Narrow Payroll Gap
Under the updated plan, teams could operate under the current Competitive Balance Tax and revenue-sharing rules during the 2027 season. The proposed cap and floor would then begin in 2028, along with MLB's plan for a 50-50 split of defined baseball revenue and greater centralization of media revenue.
MLB says the new system would reduce the large gap between the highest- and lowest-spending clubs. Based on 2026 payroll figures, the league estimates that 12 teams would need to increase payroll by a combined $636 million, while eight clubs would need to cut a combined $528 million to comply with the cap.
Those estimates would produce a net payroll increase of about $108 million, according to the league. MLB argues that requiring lower-spending teams to invest more in player payroll would give more clubs a chance to compete for free agents and retain established players.
The MLBPA strongly disputes the league's economic case. In a statement after Tuesday's bargaining session, the union accused owners of seeking a system that would suppress salaries, weaken contractual guarantees and place additional restrictions on player compensation.
The union has opposed salary caps for decades and has linked the issue to the labor conflict that led to the 1994-95 strike. Its current position is that MLB can address competitive balance without replacing the open-market system with a hard payroll ceiling.
Minimum Salaries Would Also Rise
The latest offer also includes significant changes beyond the proposed cap and floor. MLB has offered to raise the minimum salary in 2027 to $1 million for players with at least two years of major-league service and $900,000 for players with less than two years.
That is different from a team payroll floor. The floor would apply to each club's total payroll under the proposed system, while the minimum salary would establish the lowest individual salary for certain major-league players.
MLB has also proposed increasing the pre-arbitration bonus pool by 30 percent. The league says those changes could take effect in 2027 even though the cap-and-floor system would be delayed until the following season.
On free agency, MLB has indicated that it would accept a union proposal allowing players who are at least 30 years old to qualify after five years of major-league service instead of six. The league also says it would accept eliminating the qualifying-offer system for other free agents, though its proposal contains separate conditions for some players who reach free agency early.
Roster Rules Are Part of Wider Negotiations
Roster rules are another part of the bargaining package. MLB has proposed reducing the number of times a player can be optioned to the minor leagues during a season from five to four and eliminating the special fourth option year that can apply to some players.
The league also wants weekly roster rules that would limit teams' ability to repeatedly move players between the majors and minors during the same week. Another proposal would restrict clubs from cycling players on and off the 40-man and active rosters for strategic reasons.
Changes to the Rule 5 Draft are also under discussion. MLB has proposed requiring teams to protect eligible players on the 40-man roster one year earlier, which could move some prospects closer to the majors sooner.
The Players Association has made its own transaction proposals during negotiations, including reducing optional assignments even further. Earlier this year, the union proposed limiting players to three in-season options, expanding early-season active rosters and adding service-time protections for certain players sent to the minors.
The two sides therefore share some interest in reducing roster churn, but they remain far apart on the larger economic structure. The cap remains the central obstacle because the union has said it will not trade away the open-market system in exchange for other benefits.
A work stoppage is increasingly possible if the sides do not reach an agreement by Dec. 1. The previous CBA expired in December 2021 and owners imposed a lockout that lasted 99 days before a new agreement was reached in March 2022.
Free agency for the 2026-27 offseason is already underway, which helped drive MLB's decision to postpone the proposed cap system by one year. Teams and players can continue negotiating contracts before the current agreement expires, but a lockout would halt major-league transactions until a new deal is reached.
The next several weeks will determine whether the league's revised offer creates room for a broader agreement or simply shifts the timing of its most controversial proposal. For now, the owners still want a hard cap and mandatory payroll floor, while the union remains opposed to the cap itself.