Labor Relations in Sports: Collective Bargaining in 2026 and Beyond

Internal divergences among players — shaped by differences in compensation, career stage and exposure to risk — are poised to impact bargaining agendas, the use of labor disruption and the viability of agreements in the upcoming 2026 professional sports negotiations. Partners Karen Lent, Anthony Dreyer and Steven Porzio discuss how the 2026 contract-talks cycle in professional sports will test not just the parties’ relative power but whether bargaining strategy can create and preserve coalition alignment with player units despite divergent economic interests.