CLEARWATER, Fla. — In baseball’s upcoming labor war, fans might back the owners on the biggest issue of all.

More than two-thirds of MLB fans recently polled by The Athletic said they support bringing a salary cap to Major League Baseball. That puts them at odds with the Players Association, the ballplayers’ union that has always successfully fought off owners’ attempts to install an upper limit on salaries.

MLBPA interim executive director Bruce Meyer responded Wednesday by saying the union heeds fans’ perspectives, but believes a cap might actually harm their enjoyment of the game.

“There are also a lot of fans who think their owners should sell their teams,” Meyer said after the union’s annual spring meeting with Philadelphia Phillies players. “And, for some reason, they don’t seem to want to do that.

“We’re very cognizant of the fans, and actually think a salary-cap system is worse for fans, because it basically prevents teams that want to make their team better from doing so. It basically is an ultimate restriction on competition and the ability of teams to do what they think is best to build the best team for the fans.”

From a pool of 14,154 respondents last month, 68 percent said they were in support of bringing a cap-and-floor system to baseball, compared to 27 percent who were opposed. Another 5 percent said they had no opinion. The Athletic’s fan survey was a non-scientific poll conducted via its website from Feb. 10–23.

Meyer noted that in other surveys, he’s seen fan support for a cap drop over time. One poll he said he was referring to showed 84 percent support for a cap among 1,000 respondents in 2001 .

“There was a poll a while ago that actually showed more fan support than there is now (for a cap),” he said. “So, it’s either stayed the same or gone down.”

The Athletic’s polling, however, suggests more fans appear in favor of a cap system today than in 2022. That year, 59 percent of respondents favored the change, compared to 41 percent who preferred the sport’s status quo. (The 2022 poll, with more than 11,500 respondents, did not include an option for “no opinion.”)

Collective bargaining between players and owners is expected to begin in April. The current five-year labor contract expires in December, at which point owners are likely to lock out the players until a new deal is reached.

Commissioner Rob Manfred and the owners appear to be gearing up for management’s most aggressive push for a cap since the 1994-95 strike, which cost the sport a World Series. MLB hasn’t publicly said it will propose a cap, but Manfred has often hinted toward that plan, and players such as Brent Rooker of the Athletics have said they’re prepared to miss games to prevent one.

MLB frames its desire for change around fan perception of competitive balance, arguing that revenue and payroll disparity need to be reined in so that fans in every market feel their club has a chance to compete.

“Every day we hear from fans across the country who believe their team doesn’t have a fair opportunity to compete,” league spokesperson Glen Caplin said in a past statement. “Our message to those fans is that we hear your concerns, and are committed to a solution that levels the playing field.”

The Players Association has countered that parity is better in baseball than it is in the other major sports leagues that do have a cap and floor. The union also has argued that owners want a cap primarily for economic benefits, including increases to franchise value.

“At the end of the day, we’re going to do what we think is right based on input from the players,” Meyer said. “Hopefully we can get our message out to fans about why we think what we’re doing is right — not just for players, but for the fans.”

—With contributions from The Athletic’s Stephen J. Nesbitt