“A lockout is all but guaranteed at the end of the agreement,” the acting executive director of the MLB Players Association, Bruce Meyer, had shared in February. Now, the MLBPA is not only sharpening its argument for the CBA negotiations, they are also loading its treasury in case the players need help.

Ronald Blum reported, “Big league baseball players increased their potential war chest of cash and investments ahead of collective bargaining to $415 million heading into 2026.”

The MLB Players Association is not going to back out of a fight when the negotiations arrive. The MLBPA has apparently built a $415M reserve, amounting to an organization-record asset base of $519.3 million, and is ready for the CBA negotiations. Since 2022, this figure has been increasing exponentially.

In 2022, the MLBPA had $142M, and it grew to $201M at the end of 2023. The real jump came with the association’s holdings of U.S Treasury securities, rising from $85.3 million at the beginning of 2025 to $222.1 million at the end of the year. The union accumulated $415 million in those securities, along with $155.5M in investments, and $37.4M in cash.

The cash amount dropped from $144M because the money was relocated to the treasury, and the treasury saw a sharp rise from $85.3 million.

This total is more than twice the comparable $171 million from 2021, when the organization approached the previous set of labor talks with owners. Just for context, this amount was $284M at the start of 2025.

This isn’t just routine growth, but an aggressive preparation for what is to come, and pointing towards a massive work stoppage.

This shift keeps funds safe and liquid, helping players access money quickly during the dispute.

The MLBPA also withheld the licensing payments since 2024 to strengthen that reserve fund. This will be redistributed to the players, replacing their normal incomes.

According to ESPN, the net assets also climbed to $511.5 million, showing stronger finances before critical bargaining talks begin. At the same time, MLB clubs are also doing their finances for the lockout.

They are reportedly withholding about $75 million per team. With 30 teams, that’s roughly $2.25B collectively.

The revenue inflow for the union is mainly through Fanatics, which is paying them $106.4M, up from $94.4M in 2024. Other partners added $40.2 million and $16.7 million, keeping income steady during the buildup years.

The union is also strengthening its legal and political fronts.

The union’s legal fees jumped to $4.3M from $2.8M, and the lobbying spending rose to $788,486 from $363,034, signaling preparation for possible future government attention.

Even then, the big teams are going to play a major role in how these negotiations will unravel.

How MLB’s payroll disparity will dictate the 2026 CBA negotiations

We are eight months away from the CBA negotiations. The same negotiations had stalled the play back in 2021-22 for 99 days. But this time, it might get even worse.

Commissioner Rob Manfred has clearly signaled interest in a salary cap. But the MLBPA has rejected caps before, and there are no indications that they will agree to it this time.

Per the association, this is to protect the players and their earnings and not limit them to a certain number. But the main issue is that the owners themselves don’t see eye to eye.

The large-market teams generate significantly higher local revenue compared to small-market teams. For example, low payroll clubs like Pittsburgh often spend under $100 million, while teams like the Dodgers and Yankees regularly exceed $250 million in payroll investments.

This gap creates tensions between teams. And that is where Mark Walter‘s statement becomes even more important.

Walter said that money helps winning while calling for improved league parity. Yet history doesn’t agree with this.

The 2025 New York Mets are a perfect example of this. In 2025, the Mets had a payroll surpassing $340M, but they failed to even make it to the postseason.

Now, owners can expand shared media revenue, similar to NFL national deals, which distribute the income evenly. Such a shift needs approval from top earners, but Walter hinted at openness without prolonged internal disputes.

But at the end, it is about accountability and nothing else. Several franchises are virtually guaranteed to turn a profit because of the $105MM of revenue sharing which they receive no matter how low the payroll is.

Even with that, they refuse to spend money and build a decent team, and that might be the root of all causes. What are your thoughts?