MLB commissioner Rob Manfred insists that team owners have not codified their set of proposals for next year’s labor talks with the MLB Players Association. Union deputy executive director Bruce Meyer, however, disagrees entirely and says management is already pushing hard for a salary cap—something that could further position the sport toward an ugly battle next year. 

Speaking this week on the Foul Territory show, Meyer said, “The league and some of the individual owners have made no secret that they would like to see a system that they tried to get for 50 years, which is a salary-cap system.”

MLB is the only major North American pro league that does not have a salary cap. Owners’ desire for one, though, has created many significant labor rifts over the past several decades, most notably in 1994 when the end of the regular season, playoffs, and World Series were lost to a players’ strike. MLBPA officials have long believed that a salary cap serves as a restraint on player compensation. 

Manfred said last month that no decisions have been made on a salary cap or any other specific labor proposal. What he has done, though, is meet with individual players to detail a broader platform for change, and Manfred has been quite frank that he doesn’t believe MLBPA senior leaders are interested in spearheading large-scale economic transformation. 

“The strategy is to get directly to the players,” Manfred said at a recent investors day for the publicly traded Braves. “I don’t think the leadership of this union is anxious to lead the way to change. So we need to energize the workforce in order to get them familiar with or supportive of the idea that maybe changing the system could be good for everybody.”

Meyer, conversely, said he views that as another move to split sentiment among the players.

“It’s kind of a continuation of a pattern which has gone on for decades, which is, the other side … tries to go directly to players, tries to create divisions between players,” Meyer said.

The current labor agreement expires in December 2026, and formal bargaining is expected to begin early next year. 

Fiscal Divides

The situation, meanwhile, is developing as MLB continues to grapple with expanding economic disparity within the sport. The Dodgers’ luxury-tax payroll currently stands at $406 million, a league record and more than quadruple the No. 30 Marlins at $85 million. 

Meyer said such a measure doesn’t reflect the full nature of the sport, which hasn’t had a repeat World Series winner since the Yankees of 1998–2000.

“I think the whole premise is wrong,” he said. “To fans in small markets, I would say, ‘Look, competition is crucial for us, crucial for players. Our market system that we have, it’s not perfect by any means, but it relies on competition.’ To the extent that we have teams that are unwilling to compete, it’s not because the Dodgers went out and signed some players. That doesn’t explain why the Pittsburgh Pirates, for example, don’t go out and spend money.”

Meyer also pointed to negative outcomes in other leagues that use a cap.

“Every [NFL] free-agent period is like a bloodbath,” Meyer said. “They’re cutting players, players at all levels—Pro Bowl players, middle-class players—to try and squeeze in a salary for a quarterback. Even the quarterbacks, they go to them continuously and say, ‘Well, would you take less so we could sign this guy?’”

MLB playoff outcomes, indeed, have been historically disparate, but there remains a fairly strong long-term correlation between payroll spending and entry to the postseason. Since the Royals won the 2015 World Series, every subsequent winner has been from a top-10 U.S. media market. 

The Thunder’s stars delivered a championship last month, and the franchise paid them handsomely weeks later.

Jalen Williams has agreed to a five-year extension with Oklahoma City that could reach up to $287 million, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. The deal comes a day after the team agreed to a max extension with Chet Holmgren, which starts at $237 million but has incentives that can boost the deal to $250 million.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the 2025 regular-season and Finals MVP, agreed to a four-year, $285 million extension with the Thunder on July 1, which made him the first player to sign a deal that had an average annual value of more than $70 million.

Oklahoma City is paying up to $822 million among its three stars—all of whom are under 27 years old. The timing also works out, as all three players are locked into their deals until the 2030–31 season.

Despite the massive deals, the Thunder are expected to be under the luxury tax and aprons for next season—a luxury in a league where salary-cap management has become an enormous focus. The deals for Williams and Holmgren, who the Thunder drafted in 2022, will start in the 2026–27 season, while Gilgeous-Alexander’s extension begins the following year.

However, the Thunder will face questions regarding the future of their roster in two years, as the three stars will account for about 75% of the salary cap. By the 2027–28 season, they will account for roughly 86.4% of the salary cap.

This will likely mean the team will have a revolving door of players, particularly when it comes to veterans like Isaiah Hartenstein, Alex Caruso, and potentially even Luguentz Dort, who is also eligible for an extension this offseason.

What makes Oklahoma City’s situation unique is that it may be able to backfill those roles with young talent on cheap contracts, considering its war chest of first-round picks for the rest of the decade. GM Sam Presti also has one of the league’s best track records for drafting, which includes three former MVPs (Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden) as well as Holmgren and Williams.

NEWARK — Any new stadium or arena project includes plenty of ambition, but Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment CEO Tad Brown says the forthcoming Philadelphia arena is being envisioned as “the greatest arena in the world.”

With no allowance for qualification or hyperbole, Brown said HBSE and arena partner Comcast intend to push well past recently opened and technologically advanced venues such as the Intuit Dome and Chase Center, each located in California. 

“We’re going to create an experience, an environment, a home-court and home-ice advantage that’s going to be unlike any other in sports,” Brown tells Front Office Sports. He was part of a soccer summit held Thursday at Prudential Center and organized by GK Digital Ventures and HBSE. “Now, everybody says that, but it’s our turn. This is something that’s incredibly important. It’s a legacy project to our ownership team, and we aren’t going to leave any stone unturned to find the best and most advanced technology and experience that we can provide—in every facet.”

Brown’s comments arrive as HBSE, the parent company of the NBA’s 76ers and NHL’s Devils, and Comcast are now in the midst of an arena design phase after striking a surprise deal in January to collaborate on a new venue in the South Philadelphia sports complex. That pact ended years of battling over two competing arena proposals. 

“We’ve been all over the world looking at the best arenas and the best stadiums you can imagine. We’re going to take the best ideas and create our own,” Brown says.

The forthcoming venue, targeted for a 2031 opening with a possibility to accelerate that by a year, will also house a forthcoming WNBA expansion team, in addition to the 76ers and the Comcast Spectacor–owned Flyers of the NHL. If that earlier arena opening is achieved, the women’s basketball franchise will be in a new venue right from its start.

“This is a perfect opportunity to push everything together. It’s a perfect time to open the new arena, and it’s a perfect time for the WNBA to come to Philly in the way they’re cycling in their expansion teams,” Brown says.

Downtown Matters

HBSE and Comcast, meanwhile, have purchased a series of downtown Philadelphia properties around where HBSE previously intended to build a new venue for the 76ers. Specific redevelopment plans for the Market East parcels have not been detailed publicly, as the two companies are still working with a variety of political and community stakeholders. Brown, however, said the forthcoming efforts in that area will be on a similarly expansive scale.

“We want to make sure we’re doing the right things to make the biggest impact, and they’re going to affect the most people who need it,” Brown says. “It’s very important to both us and to Comcast that we’re making the biggest impact we can in both [downtown and the sports complex].”

After an upset-filled opening week in Wimbledon, the Grand Slam final will feature massive storylines on the men’s and women’s singles brackets—which could become a major for U.S. broadcast partner ESPN.

The women’s final will feature U.S. star Amanda Anisimova, the first American to make a Wimbledon final since Serena Williams in 2019. It’s a welcome sight for the U.S. after top-ranked Americans Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula were both knocked out in the first round. 

Anisimova, who returned last year after a one-year break to focus on her mental health, will face former world No. 1 Iga Świątek in the final. Świątek, a five-time Grand Slam champion, has notoriously struggled on grass, but this year will be her first Wimbledon final. A win Saturday would leave the Australian Open as the only major she has yet to win.

Americans in the final are often a winning recipe for ESPN, which holds the U.S. broadcasting rights to Wimbledon until 2035. While Gauff would be the best bet on the women’s side, an Anisimova win would likely draw—or at least build the 23-year-old’s star power moving forward.

The men’s semifinals commence Friday, but both brackets come with significant intrigue. Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, world Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, would be a dream final just a month after their five-set blockbuster at Roland-Garros. 

However, Novak Djokovic could break through and defeat Sinner, which would give him a chance at a historic 25th Grand Slam. On the other side, if Taylor Fritz can upset Alcaraz, he’d be the first American man to make the Wimbledon singles final since Andy Roddick in 2009.

The last American man to win a Grand Slam title was Roddick in 2003. Pete Sampras was the last American to triumph at Wimbledon in 2000.

Winners on both the men’s and women’s sides will take home a record $4.1 million first prize.