Prominent baseball players in the major leagues augmented their potential fund of money and assets to $415 million in anticipation of collective negotiations by 2026. This marked a rise from $284 million at the commencement of 2025, as per the union’s yearly governmental disclosure document submitted on Tuesday.
As of December 31, the Major League Baseball Players Association possessed $222.1 million in U.S. Treasury bonds, $155.5 million in diverse financial holdings, and $37.4 million in liquid funds.
To ready for negotiations aimed at superseding the existing labor agreement, which concludes on December 1, the union’s executive committee has retained all licensing revenue owed to players for both 2024 and 2025. These funds might be distributed among players in the event of a work cessation.
Each five-year cycle of the collective bargaining contract sees the financial reserve grow, with undistributed money then sent to players once a labor deal is finalized. The combined sum of cash, Treasury bonds, and investments stood at $142 million by the close of 2022 and $201 million by the end of 2023.
The total value of assets, encompassing receivables and fixed items such as furnishings and computer equipment, climbed to $519 million from $353 million at the conclusion of 2024.
Major League Baseball is similarly accumulating capital prior to negotiations, approximately $75 million per club in retained central fund distributions, a source familiar with the matter informed The Associated Press. The individual spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because MLB has not issued an official announcement.
Union leader Tony Clark, who stepped down in February 2026, was awarded $3.58 million as part of a $17.95 million, five-year agreement detailed in a financial statement by Mazars filed in 2024. It remains uncertain whether Clark will receive payment for the remainder of the deal, which specified salaries of $3.76 million in 2026 and $3.95 million in 2027.
Bruce Meyer, who assumed the role of interim executive director in February, received $1.56 million last year as deputy executive director, an increase of $30,000 from 2024.
General counsel Matt Nussbaum earned $916,840, deputy general counsel Jeff Perconte $740,333, senior adviser Ian Penny — a former general counsel — $877,703, and chief operating officer Xavier James $727,866.
Among former players employed by the union, managing director of player services Kevin Slowey earned $519,671, and senior director of operations, business and strategy Chris Capuano $492,107.
Other players listed included Phil Bradley at $271,296, Rick Helling $234,650, Javier Vazquez $149,745, Bobby Bonilla $132,477, Chris Singleton $129,000, and Andrew Miller $123,600. Dave Winfield, who retired from the union in February 2025, earned $77,033.
The union disbursed $4.3 million for legal costs to Winston & Strawn, the law firm of Jeffrey Kessler, an increase from $2.8 million in 2024. It also paid $100,000 to Morrison Foerster, a legal practice engaged as outside counsel for an investigation that culminated in Clark’s dismissal.
The union did not publicly release consolidated financial statements, as it had done through 2023. The LM-2 contained information on MLB Players Inc., its commercial division, and the MLB Players Trust. With these entities combined, employee payouts increased to nearly $26.6 million from $24.6 million in 2024 and $16.6 million in 2023.
Fanatics remitted $106.4 million to the union, an increase from $94.4 million; OneTeam Partners $40.2 million, a decrease from $44.5 million; and MLB Advanced Media $16.7 million, up from $16.2 million.
The union paid $1.3 million to terminate the lease for its long-standing office near New York’s Rockefeller Center and provided $708,000 in rent for its new office premises a few blocks north and west.