The players and owners are at odds over the future of the games.
It is Labor Day, a holiday that did not start out as a holiday which began with a New York City labor parade on September 5th, 1882 on a Tuesday. States allowed workers to celebrate the “holiday” in 1887 and it became a federal holiday in 1894. In sports, it is quiet in the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, the Women’s National Basketball Association and the Professional Women’s Hockey League. Stanford football players have formed a player-led chapter of the College Football Players Association which could see the players negotiate with Atlantic Coast Conference officials on such issues as working conditions, safety protocols, benefits, and revenue sharing.
The big labor issue in American sports though is the possibility that Major League Baseball owners will lock out the Major League Baseball Players Association in December when the present collective bargaining agreement expires. The sparring between the owners and players over the owners seeking a salary cap has been a feature of the 2026 negotiations. The owners want cost certainty, a term that the owners have been using for decades, and think that introducing a salary cap would accomplish that goal. The players association wants nothing to do with a salary cap. Major League Baseball is the only sports industry in the United States and Canada that does not have a salary cap. Both sides are digging in. But the real deadline to get a new collective bargaining agreement is not in December but it is sometime in late January when the 2027 spring training schedule portion of the schedule approaches and even then there is some wiggle room because losing spring training games to a labor dispute is no big deal. It is the regular season start that is important. So there is plenty of time to reach an agreement.
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