Major League Baseball is willing to pay $185 million to settle a class action lawsuit filed by minor league players nearly a decade ago, as ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported. The Athletic’s Evan Drelich adds ( Twitter link ) that the league will remove all “contractual prohibitions against (teams) paying salaries to minor league players” for non-regular-season work. The settlement is yet to be finally approved by the court.
It’s the culmination of a lawsuit first filed in 2014. Among other aspects of minor league pay, the litigation involved the unpaid spring training process. MLB has come under public criticism for wanting players to be reminded of unpaid spring training as early as February. However, this proved unsuccessful. The following month, the court rejected the league’s argument that minor league players were seasonal employees exempt from minimum wage laws.
The case was set for June 1, but the parties reached a settlement in mid-May. Terms were not disclosed at the time, but the league apparently agreed to hand out $185 million in back pay. Passan notes that more than $120 million of that amount will be distributed among the class of players involved (with the rest likely going to legal costs and attorneys’ fees). One of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, former minor leaguer Garrett Broshuis, tells Drelich that more than 20,000 players are expected to share in those funds.
“This settlement is a monumental step for minor league players toward a fair compensation system,” Broshuis said (via Passan ). “As a former minor league baseball player, I have seen firsthand the financial struggle players face while earning poverty-level wages – or no wages at all – in pursuit of their big league dream. For the better part of a decade, it has been my honor to help fight this battle and shine a light on the unfair labor practices that have long plagued America’s entertainment.
MLB released its own statement. “We’re only in the second year of a major overhaul of the 100-year-old player development system, and we’ve made great strides to improve the quality of life for minor league players,” a league spokesman told Passan, referring to growth in 2021 d. minor league salaries and the requirement for this season that teams provide housing to players. “We are proud that minor league players now receive significant benefits, including free housing, quality health care, multiple meals a day, college tuition assistance for those who wish to continue their education and over $450 million in annual player signing bonuses for first year . We are pleased to have been able to reach a mutually acceptable resolution, but cannot comment on the details until the settlement is formally approved by the Court.
Meanwhile, the proposed lifting of the off-season payment ban has the potential to affect countless players moving forward. It’s unclear whether or how much teams will begin paying minor players for things like spring training and instructional league. Nevertheless, the lifting of the ban should be seen as a victory for groups fighting for better pay in the minor leagues, most of which are not part of the Major League Baseball Players Association and do not have their own union.
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