Analysis of the Current State of Labor Relations and Antitrust Law in Major League Baseball

In 2021-2022, MLB underwent a labor stoppage due to a failure between the league and union to sign a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) for the 2022 season until mid-March of 2022. This failure led to a contentious debate between owners and players over economic, competitive balance, and gameplay issues. To evaluate how MLB has reached this point in labor relations and make predictions for the future, it is first important to look at the history of sports and collective bargaining and, more specifically, this history in baseball. Next, one should evaluate the history of the antitrust exemption and its impact on labor relations in MLB. It is then important to analyze the main tenets of the 2022 CBA and their implications. Following this historical and current analysis, one can make hypotheses about where baseball labor relations and antitrust laws are heading and what will be key issues to look toward in the future.