MLB Proposes Significant Changes to MiLB

When the dust settles on the next Professional Baseball Agreement (PBA), which is the binding agreement between Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball (MiLB), some MiLB teams may find themselves in search of a new home.  After receiving an extension in 2011 that kept the relationship status quo, the current PBA expires on September 15, 2020 and significant changes are expected. According to leaked reports, negotiations include a proposed restructuring of teams participating in the lower level of MiLB, transitioning short-season rookie ball …

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Judge Rules Baseball Game Reports Must be Turned Over

On Friday, January 29, 2016, California District Judge Joseph Spero ordered Major League Baseball to disclose game reports in minor leaguers’ proposed class action suit. The players have alleged that the MLB conspired with its 30 member teams to suppress the wages they earned. The players sought access to the game reports to show the MLB did not keep formal time records of when they worked. In response, the league argued the game reports would not be able to prove anything and therefore had no …

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Minor Leaguers to Appeal Dismissal of Antitrust Action Against MLB

Earlier this month, a federal judge in California granted Major League Baseball’s motion to dismiss the minor league players’ antitrust lawsuit. On Wednesday, the minor league players informed the court that they plan to appeal the decision.

The lawsuit—a class action filed in 2014—alleges that the MLB violated federal antitrust laws by suppressing the compensation of minor league players through its anti-trust exemption. District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr. dismissed the case pursuant to a January 2015 decision in which the 9th Circuit upheld …

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Minimum Wage Lawsuits Strike At the Core of Major Junior Hockey and Minor League Baseball

Many would argue that minor league baseball is the quintessential American sporting experience – playing for the love of the game in small towns throughout the country, dreaming of the big leagues, or playing out the string.  Similarly, nothing may be more distinctively Canadian than major junior hockey – the primary breeding ground for future NHLers for generations and the pride of Canadian communities from Cape Breton to Victoria.  The two share more than long bus rides and long odds.  They both are the subject …

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