Owners Officially Propose Salary Cap for MLB

With the other three major North American professional sports leagues having a salary cap, Major League Baseball is now pushing hard to finally get one. But the MLB players' union is still pushing back.

The last time MLB Owners proposed a hard salary cap was over 30 years ago, in 1994. And we all know what happened then. A player's strike in defiance of a cap wound up getting the World Series cancelled.

Salary cap is accompanied by salary floor in owners' proposal

In the new proposal, a $245.3 million salary cap was put forth, which would leave eight teams currently over that cap.

But it's not all bad news for the players. In return, the owners also proposed a salary floor of $171.2 million. 12 teams currently below that floor would have to significantly increase their spending. They would need to increase their payrolls by a combined $617 million.

Additionally, players would immediately receive 50% of baseball revenues. What players need to note here is that MLB revenue has increased by 247% since 2003, while player payroll has increased only by 149%. More money would be coming to the players than currently, under this proposal.

MLB says new salary cap proposal evens the playing field

MLB, in proposing to grow the game together with the players, issued the following statement in relation to the new salary cap & floor plan:

“Ultimately the game is about hope and competition and too many fans in too many markets have too little hope their team has a fair chance to win," MLB spokesman Glen Caplin said in a statement. “Fans overwhelmingly support a salary cap and floor like in the other leagues because they don't believe a $446 million spending gap from top to bottom is a fair fight."

Of course, the MLBPA has immediately condemned the owners' cap proposal.

Brace yourselves for a work stoppage, people.