ABSTRACT
Labor relations between sports leagues and athletes present some of the most contentious issues in professional sports. In the last three decades, the intricacies of union-management relations and the tensions arising from disputes involving salaries and other working conditions have been frequently discussed on the sports pages and increasingly on the business pages as well. Suffice it to say that a knowledgeable journalist must have a solid understanding of labor issues. This chapter reviews the history of labor relations in professional sports and discusses the current collective bargaining agreements in place (as of 2010) in the major professional leagues.
