Baseball: MLB and players' union agree on contract

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Baseball in the United States

Photo: Ashley Landis/AP

Major League Baseball and its players' union reached a tentative agreement on Thursday on a new wage agreement, according to the Reuters news agency and the New York Times.

A confirmation from the league is still pending.

The US league MLB locked out the players last December after they could not agree on a new employment contract.

The season was then on the brink, and the first two weeks of the 2022 season had to be cancelled.

It was originally supposed to start on March 31st, now April 7th is planned.

According to »ESPN«, the spring training camps will now open on Sunday, after which there should be a regular season with 162 games.

At the beginning of December, for the first time since 1994, there was a so-called lockout in MLM, in which players and teams were no longer allowed to speak to each other due to a wage dispute.

The negotiations on the expiring collective agreement had not been concluded by December 1 at 11:59 p.m. (local time in New York).

Player transfers may also not be negotiated during a lockout.

Approval from the club owners is still pending

After three days of negotiations, the sides agreed on a five-year wage agreement, ending the second-longest work stoppage in league history.

Details of the content were not initially known.

However, it is said that there should be higher minimum salaries.

The union executive voted 26 to 12, according to the New York Times.

The deal is yet to be confirmed by the club owners.

However, this is considered a formality.

The players' union criticizes declining average salaries, a widening salary gap between stars and other players and the trend towards younger and cheaper players at the expense of more expensive veterans.

jan/Reuters