The offseason is in full swing and the stove is hot. We’ve already seen a big trade with Brandon Nimmo heading from the Mets to the Rangers for Marcus Semien. We’ve already seen a huge signing with Dylan Cease landing a seven year deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. But the biggest story of this offseason might wind up not being about which players end up where for 2026, but how the stage is being set for next offseason’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations. And on that front, earlier this week fans got some insight on a key potential development from Major League Baseball.

Most baseball writers and watchers have resigned themselves to the fact that there will be a lockout next season. The reason is pretty simple, the Major League Baseball Players Association’s line in the sand for the CBA has been no salary cap for decades while the owners and MLB have made it extremely clear through their actions over the last year that they will be pushing hard for a salary cap in the next CBA. Manfred and representatives from MLB spent most of last season visiting clubhouses to preemptively make their case to players (sparking the ire of Bryce Harper, in at least one instance).

Earlier this week, Evan Drellich of The Athletic dropped a story about MLB’s fan council, “a group of now 90 diehard fans from across the sport who meet monthly on a video call with league executives.” Honestly, a focus group of fans who care a lot about the game is a great idea, in theory. But while these fans might get a chance to weigh in with their opinions on the use of the Manfred Man in extra innings, it seems clear they’re really there to disseminate the league’s position on revenue and labor:

In its presentation, MLB compared the Dodgers to the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League, a circuit that has a salary cap.

“The Cowboys are like the most recognized fan base or recognized sports team in all of sports,” Reds fan Kuffner recalled of the points MLB made. “They have to play by the same rules basically as everybody else in the NFL, whereas the Dodgers can go spend more money than the (Colorado) Rockies or the Reds. And they showed some slides of, over the last however many years, this is how many small-market teams have won, and this is how many big-market teams have won.”

But any conversation about competitive balance inevitably leads to the economic and structural elements of the sport. Asked what the league told fans about labor, Caplin replied, “We have not discussed labor and/or the upcoming CBA negotiations.”

That characterization is tenuous. A salary cap and spending were ultimately discussed during the presentation, participants said.

It is laughable for MLB to claim they haven’t discussed labor or the CBA negotiation with this framing. Like sure, I’ll spot the league that they may not have been the first people in the room to say the words “Collective Bargaining Agreement” but if you start a presentation comparing the Los Angles Dodgers to the Dallas Cowboys and mention that the NFL has a salary cap, you know what you’re doing and it’s not merely comparing salary mechanisms between sports.

It’s an interesting choice of comparison, too. The Dallas Cowboys, also known as America’s Team are the most hated NFL franchise in America according to an (admittedly not very scientific) survey from Hard Rock Bet. They also haven’t won a Super Bowl since 1996. The implication is pretty clear: if the NFL lacked a salary cap the Cowboys would be buying all the players and winning all the things. It’s a skilled use of emotion to frame an argument where MLB definitely has some prior assumptions and a side.

It’s also interesting that the fan council just happens to be made up of fans with large social media followings. What could MLB possibly hope to achieve by seeding their arguments and stats with a group of very online fans who tend to drive the conversations among other fans? Here’s one possibility from a fan with more than 5,000 followers on Bluesky (that I’m betting didn’t get an invite to the council):

You should read Drellich’s whole article, there are more interesting nuggets there that are worth diving into. That said, I’m extremely skeptical of the intentions behind this fan council. Something tells me that among the stats and figures MLB shared with their 90 handpicked influencer fans, team revenues and the percentage that goes to the players were not included.