The MLBPA Has An Experienced CBA Negotiator In Bruce Meyer

There has finally been some movement in the CBA negotiations between MLB and the MLBPA. While both sides are still far apart, the fact that negotiations have commenced, numbers have been suggested, and the two sides have offered proposals and counteroffers, bodes well for baseball returning sooner rather than later. 

While MLB commissioner Rob Manfred cut his teeth in labor law before moving up the ranks as an MLB executive, his counterpart Bruce Meyer, the senior director and legal council for the MLBPA, is no slouch either.

Meyer attended undergrad at Penn before going to law school at Boston University. At the onset of his professional career, where he was a lawyer at Weil, Gotshal, and Mangers, he seemed to gravitate towards sport law cases. 

Per the MLBPA website, his first sports case came in 1985 as a summer associate, where he served as counsel to the MLBPA in a television rights deal. Now he seems to have come full circle from a professional standpoint as he was hired by MLBPA head, Tony Clark, in 2018.

Prior to that, Meyer served as the senior director of collective bargaining, policy, and legal for the NHLPA. Additionally, Meyer has served as counsel on both NBAPA and NFLPA CBA negotiations. Not only is Meyer well known for his experience working as a specialist of sorts when it comes to counseling the player unions of all four major American sports’ unions, it is something he is truly passionate about. 

While labor law is not Meyer’s specialization, his experience working with player unions and his passion for player advocacy makes him a formidable opponent for Rob Manfred heading into CBA negotiations. 

Although the MLBPA has already made some concessions. The MLBPA already made a major concession by dropping its request for players to reach free agency before six years of service time. MLB’s deputy commissioner Dan Halem said that the MLB is willing to cancel games if the two sides can not reach a new CBA in a timely fashion. 

However, it does not seem like this is a case of an unstoppable force versus an immovable object. There are topics that have emerged where both sides have made proposals, which is definitely progress. MLB and the MLBPA have both proposed figures regarding minimum salary and a bonus pool for players who make under the minimum salary threshold that pays out based on player WAR. 

These could be particularly difficult issues to navigate because we often see players that earn below the median MLB salary outperform their dollar value. How the bonus pool money will be allotted seems like it may be its own arbitration-like process which could get messy as well. 

The arbitration process has caused rifts between players and their teams in the past. This new system could potentially cause similar difficulties well before the young players reach arbitration years based on their performance. It was reported that forty six percent of players made less than $500,000 in 2021. These initiatives could help bridge the gap between the overachieving low earners and the expensive, high performers.

While Bruce Meyers has a reputation of being tough talking, pro-worker, and an experienced litigator, MLB has said they are willing to lose games over the new CBA. Two stubborn sides in a prolonged labor battle may end up hurting the MLB brand in the public eye. Meyers and Manfred both have reputations for resolving labor disputes quickly, but this is coming down to the wire.

Spring Training would typically begin in a couple of weeks, but little progress towards a new CBA has been made. A truncated spring training could cause a lot of logistical issues for the regular season, but logistical issues would be much more preferable to losing games altogether.