But like, is that "anti-labor"? The undervalued people who actually were important now being slightly more valued -- or, in the case of the storyline in the movie, having a job at all -- seems like it could even be pro-labor.

It’s neither anti- nor pro-labor; it simply exists in the context of a strong players’ union and a league that enforces constraints on team payrolls in order to promote equity between large and small market teams.

It's a mixed bag. Over time it's probably raised the salary of these kinds of players as teams change how they evaluate player worth but initially the first couple seasons effect is to underpay players vs the value they bring to the team and that's contrary to a long held pro-labor stance is workers should be paid more in line with the value they generate for the company rather than just what the companies do pay them.