President Trump says UFC arena may remain on White House lawn permanently
President Donald Trump said the UFC arena, which was recently installed on the White House lawn, could remain open permanently after the June 14 fight.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said Major League Baseball needs a salary cap, respecting the position of owners who are working to develop a new collective bargaining agreement to avoid a lockout after the 2026 season.
“If you don’t have a salary cap, you can’t play sports because they can’t help themselves,” President Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on June 5. “Football has a salary cap. It should have been done a long time ago.
Trump appeared to be referring to the 1994 and 1995 MLB strikes, adding, “Frankly, it’s shocking that they didn’t put a cap in place years ago. They had a chance to put a cap in place and they blew it.”
MLB’s current collective bargaining agreement ends on December 1st. MLB is the only of the four major U.S. sports leagues that does not have a cap on the amount teams can spend on roster salaries. This arrangement typically favors large-market teams. The salary cap has long been abolished for the MLB Players Association.
Labor negotiations began last week. MLB has proposed a salary cap of $245.3 million, including benefits, which is lower than the current salaries of the eight MLB clubs and would require a total of $578 million in salary cuts. The league has proposed a minimum annual salary of $171.2 million, which would require a combined $617 million increase for the 12 teams.
The players’ association firmly rejected this proposal. Bruce Meyer, interim executive director of the MLB Players Association, said the cap would reduce salaries by $500 million and make some contracts non-guaranteed.
The players’ association proposed guaranteeing each team a minimum revenue share of $240 million each season, with the league’s lowest-earning team receiving monetary bonuses for making the playoffs or achieving a winning record.
The proposal would impose penalties on teams that don’t pass revenue-sharing money back to players, and each club would be required to pay at least $150 million in annual salaries. The association also proposed nearly doubling the minimum annual salary from $780,000 to $1.5 million and shortening the free agency period for players over 30 from six to five years.
The previous MLB lockout lasted 99 days from December 2021 to March 2022, but did not eliminate games from the regular season.
It’s perhaps no surprise that Trump views labor negotiations from the owners’ perspective. Trump, an avid sports fan, owned the American Football League’s New Jersey Generals from 1983 to 1985 before the league disbanded.
Contributor: Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY
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