Report: MLB Owners Hold Firm on Feb. 28 Deadline for New CBA

A league spokesperson reaffirmed Wednesday that Feb. 28 is the last day for a deal to be reached before the season is delayed.

A third straight day of negotiating for a new collective bargaining agreement reportedly brought about little progress, though it did offer up added clarity: if MLB owners and players are unable to reach a deal by Feb. 28, the 2022 regular season will not start on time.

A league spokesperson affirmed that stance after Wednesday's meetings concluded, per Evan Drellich of The Athletic, saying plainly, "A deadline is a deadline." That date has long been identified as a cutoff point, though now appears to unambiguously stand as the point of no return.

A Major League Baseball spokesperson said tonight that if a deal is not in place by Feb. 28, regular season games will be canceled. “A deadline is a deadline,” the spokesperson said. Player pay would not be recouped, nor would those games be rescheduled, the spokesperson said.

— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) February 23, 2022

As far as the issues that were discussed on Wednesday, the owners reportedly offered to add $10,000 to the current league-minimum salaries for the next five years, per Drellich. On Tuesday, the MLBPA proposed a minimum salary of $775,000 for 2022, with $25,000 increases each subsequent year of the CBA. MLB's proposed minimum salary for 2022 was $640,000.

The two sides have yet to formally exchange proposals on the competitive balance tax, viewed as the most significant hurdle among several that have yet to be resolved. After three consecutive days of negotiations, there remains sizable gulfs to bridge for an array of fundamental issues.

Five days before the deadline MLB says will postpone regular-season games, here's the gap between the sides in their latest proposals:

CBT: $31M
Pre-arb bonus pool: $95M
Minimum salary: $135K/player
Draft lottery: 3 picks

That's a lot to cover in less than a week. Like, a lot.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 23, 2022

The owners and players will meet again on Thursday for a fourth straight day of bargaining, with some type of counter proposal expected from the union.