Here’s where Royals owner John Sherman stands regarding potential MLB salary cap

Major League Baseball enters uncharted territory this season.

The 2026 campaign is prelude to what’s expected to be a tumultuous period of labor negotiations between MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA).

A deadline looms. The league’s current collective-bargaining agreement (CBA) expires Dec. 1. MLB and the MLBPA must agree on a new labor deal ahead of the 2027 season.

A potential salary cap seems to be the major sticking point. Multiple reports suggest owners across the game are in favor of a capped financial system. Meanwhile, players are generally against the idea.

Kansas City Royals owner John Sherman sits on MLB’s labor policy committee. At the recent Royals Rally event, he shared his hope that a mutually amendable agreement will be struck.

“The first thing I’ll say is that I’m thinking about the 2026 season first,” Sherman said. “You know, we still have another year.

“On the other hand, I’m on the labor committee, and I’ve got kind of a front-row seat to this. I would just tell you that we are hearing from a lot of fans as it relates to competitive balance and that type of thing — I think particularly in the last few years. We are never going to use that as an excuse. We are going to compete under these rules, but we are certainly getting a lot of feedback.”

This offseason, fans have voiced frustration with some of baseball’s higher-profile free-agent moves. The Los Angeles Dodgers evoked vitriol, for instance, after signing Kyle Tucker to a lucrative contract. It fueled more discussions about competitive balance in the league.

It’s possible a salary cap would enable smaller-market teams, such as the Royals, to better compete in free agency or the trade market. Such a structure is in place in the NFL, NBA and NHL — three of the biggest sports leagues in the country.

“You know, like the other leagues — NFL, NHL, NBA — they have a rev(enue) share with their players, where they’re motivated to grow the game together,” Sherman said. “And that’s something we don’t have in our structure.”

Baseball has never operated with a salary cap. The idea has been broached for years, dating to labor discussions three decades ago.

Here’s why it matters.

Teams with greater profits — revenue — can take advantage of the current system. Think of the free-spending Dodgers, New York Yankees and New York Mets, among others. Many other franchises don’t have the financial capacity to keep up.

There is an economic disparity in the league. Some teams have their own revenue machines — lavish TV packages and local advertising — while others are left to depend on regional sports networks, or RSNs.

The Royals have announced their departure from FanDuel Sports Network. They are now aligning under Major League Baseball’s production outfit, with their own Royals.TV venture. This change means the Royals’ regular-season games will be broadcast under the MLB umbrella.

Leaving an RSN figures to entail a financial loss. But MLB will likely pay the Royals money raised from streaming subscriptions and TV distribution fees.

A few other major-league teams are in a similar predicament. For such clubs, a salary cap could help offset the ever-rising costs of acquiring talent.

MLBPA, the players’ union, is staunchly against any notion of a salary cap. Such a structure would limit what a player could make from revenue sharing while changing the dynamics of the game’s overall financial structure.

MLBPA executive director Tony Clark blasted such a proposition at the 2025 All-Star Game in Atlanta.

“Institutionalized collusion, that’s what a salary cap is …” Clark told the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, via USA Today columnist Bob Nightengale. “A cap is not about a partnership. A cap isn’t about growing the game. A cap is about franchise values and profits.”

Clark later said a salary cap would force players to measure their productivity against each other.

“A salary cap historically has limited contract guarantees associated with it — literally pits one player against another — and is often what we share with players as the definitive non-competitive system,” he said. “It doesn’t reward excellence. It undermines it, from an organizational standpoint. That’s why this is not about competitive balance. It’s not about fair versus not fair.”

Last season, Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper got into a verbal disagreement with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred over this very topic. Harper reportedly came face-to-face with Manfred and didn’t want to discuss the validity of a potential salary cap.

Many players are against a new, capped system — whether ia salary cap or salary floor. This looming impasse between baseball and its players’ union stands to make for some intense labor negotiations.

It’s possible we’ll see a lockout. In the meantime, both sides will work to prevent a work stoppage that affects regular-season games.

The chasm could be too much to overcome. In addition to the looming salary-cap debate, there are a few other items that need to be agreed upon.

Sherman is hopeful that upcoming discussions between MLB and the union will be productive as December’s CBA deadline approaches.

“What is all around that, in terms of the spending restraints ... I don’t know,” he said. “I think that will come through the negotiations. But I look forward to those discussions starting here at some point during the 2026 season.”

For now, the lines have been drawn for what could be lingering standoff.