MLB on Friday at quarterly owners meeting in Palm Beach, Fla., elected Astros Owner Jim Crane and Padres Exec Chair Ron Fowler to the league’s Exec Council. The two replace Twins Owner Jim Pohlad and Cardinals Chair & CEO Bill DeWitt Jr., who each had expiring terms. Fowler last year played a key role in the league’s new CBA agreement as head of MLB’s Labor Committee.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, meanwhile, said an authenticated in-market streaming deal for NESN and the Red Sox is now complete, and one with Root Sports' RSNs involving the Astros, Rockies, Pirates and Mariners is close. That would leave the Dodgers, Nationals and Orioles as the only MLB teams without an in-market streaming deal in place following prior deals with Fox Sports, Comcast and SNY.
In addition, the league continues to study the new federal immigration policy under President Trump that has restricted travel involving seven Middle Eastern countries. “We are monitoring the developments with respect to immigration matters,” Manfred said. “Our foremost concern is that players under contract with our organizations are able to come and go. But as of right now, the countries that have been mostly affected are not places where we have players.”
