Major League Baseball has an expiring CBA.
It is Labor Day in the United States and in Canada so it is a good time to examine the state of labor in Major League sports in both countries. The Major League Baseball owners and players current Collective Bargaining Agreement comes to an end after the season. The two sides didn’t agree on much in 2020 playing through a COVID-19 shortened schedule. The owners and players signed a labor deal in 2016. There was an era of good feeling between the two sides and that has come to an end. The two sides are meeting but there are issues that need to be ironed out. Ultimately, it will come down to how the owners and players split the money pie. The National Hockey League owners and players are fine as they have five years left on the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement. The NHL owners will allow players to participate in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, if there is an Olympics because there is no guarantee that COVID-19 will be contained by February 2022. The owners and players agreed to a money deal that depends on the rate of economic recovery from COVID-19. The NHL has two schedules ready for the 2021-2022 season. One has the players heading to the Olympics, the other is a normal regular season schedule. The NHL and the International Ice Hockey Federation have signed an agreement that will allow players to go to Beijing.
Major League Soccer owners and players have a pact until 2024. Both sides financially were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as less money is available. The National Basketball Association has an expiring deal with its players. There is no problem in the NBA until 2023. The NFL owners and players signed an 11-year deal in March 2020. It’s just sports business, nothing personal.
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