SARASOTA, Fla. — After Orioles owner David Rubenstein resurfaced the topic of a salary cap over the offseason, MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark made clear Monday that the union doesn’t plan to budge on the issue ahead of next year’s collective bargaining.

“We’re not surprised by it,” Clark said at the Orioles’ camp. “We remain of the mind, as we have over the last 50 or 60 years, that the industry does not need it. It is not necessary. Whether it’s from a ‘competitive balance’ standpoint, or whether it’s from the ability of the industry to continue to grow and move forward, all of those things have happened in the absence of [a salary cap] and our game has thrived as a result.”

MLB has never had a salary cap, outlasting other major North American sports leagues such as the NFL, NBA and NHL by operating with a luxury tax and revenue-sharing payroll model that distributes financial resources from high-spending teams to small-market clubs, such as the Orioles. Rubenstein, who took over as owner last March, has financed a sizable increase in the club’s payroll, which was among the lowest in the sport from 2019 to 2024.

“Everybody in baseball wants to have a competitive environment so every fan thinks every team can win any given year,” Rubenstein said in February. “Having a competitive environment is what we want and what other owners want. And ultimately, I think that’s what I think the fans really want, too, is a competitive environment so no matter what city you live in, you think your team can win that year when the season begins. And that’s what I’m mostly focused on.

“I would say generically, if you look at other sports, the other sports which have that kind of arrangement seem to have players that are pretty happy with the situation. I can’t address the baseball situation, but I would say my impression is that players in other leagues seem to be OK. But I can’t address how that would affect baseball or something like that. I’m not sure anybody is thinking that the players in other leagues are thinking they’re in bad shape.”

MLB’s current collective bargaining agreement extends through the 2026 season. The league and union expect to begin hashing out a new deal next spring, though both sides have acknowledged that a lockout is in play. Should the owners push for a salary cap — the primary driver behind the 1994 to 1995 work stoppage that canceled the ‘94 World Series — the sport’s entire financial structure would be in the balance.

The first luxury tax threshold is set at $241 million for 2025, with increasing surcharges for teams that exceed it multiple years in a row as well as by increments of $20 million up to $301 million. The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets, both of whom have signed free agents to deals in excess of $700 million the past two years, have incited questions over the fairness of MLB’s luxury tax system with their massive spending.

However, Clark maintains that owners’ preference for a salary cap stems from the desire to turn a higher profit, not maintain a competitive balance.

“At this point in time, despite the fact that there was an announcement that the industry itself is doing better than it ever has, despite the fact that there was an announcement that there’s more viewership and more attendance than it has been in the last 10 or so years, you’re hearing the rhetoric around a salary cap because there’s an interest in moving more of that revenue from one side of the equation to the other,” Clark said. “We’ll have a conversation about all of those moving pieces.”

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