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Sports Business Awards

Bud Selig 101

Thoughts from the commissioner emeritus on five historic changes that occurred during his reign

“There was no doubt in my mind that the sport was stuck in neutral, for a myriad of reasons. And the game is such a great game. But everything in life needs modifications. And so the idea is how do you do this without disturbing the game. I think we found that out. But you had to make changes. Lots of changes.”

— Bud Selig, eight weeks before he retired as commissioner on Jan. 24, 2015

Selig presided over numerous historical decisions during his time in office.
Photo by: ANDY MANIS PHOTO
Labor peace

There were seven work stoppages in the 30 years before Selig took over in 1992. His darkest moment, the cancellation of the 1994 World Series, changed the tenor of the conversation between owners and players — and, more important, among owners with disparate interests. There hasn’t been a strike or lockout since.

“It’s very simple when you think about it. You’re a fan on the south side of Milwaukee. You’re reading about this labor strife. You read about the ownership, a group of very wealthy people. Players who today are making a lot of money. There was no one left to be sympathetic [to].

“If nothing else, I hope the past 20-some years have proven you can be tough, adversarial and believe in your position — and still find labor peace.”

Economic reform

Selig set this as his top priority when he took office. Going from no revenue sharing to more than $400 million a year, imposing a tax on clubs that exceed player payroll thresholds and revamping draft and international signing rules yielded the competitive balance that he sought. All but five clubs have made the playoffs at least once in the last five years, and all but the Seattle Mariners and Miami Marlins have made it in the last 10 years.

“I can remember being in a small committee meeting in 1985. Labor. Peter O’Malley [Dodgers], John McMullen [Astros], Edward Bennett Williams [Orioles] and me. Ed Williams was great. One day he said, ‘The peasants are coming down from the hills!’ Talking about revenue sharing. I thought Peter and John were going to have a heart attack. Peter said to me later, ‘What is he talking about?’ I said, ‘Peter, there are realities here that we’re going to have to deal with.’ Life was changing.”

The wild cards

Sporting logic dictated that MLB go from four divisions to six once it expanded to 28 and then 30 clubs. Once that happened, you had to have wild cards in the playoffs. Still, baseball being baseball, some greeted that reconfiguration of the postseason “as if we’d defiled motherhood,” Selig said. Since he added two more wild cards and a one-game playoff, the reviews from traditionalists have been far better.

“We get to the meeting and all of a sudden in the American League we don’t have the votes. So I gotta go to the back of the room and … twist some arms. It passes 29-1. It was good. But I’m thinking: Now here is something so obvious, and even that needed a lot of caressing, a lot of politics and a lot of work.”

MLBAM

Though the pooling of club internet rights eventually passed by unanimous vote, it initially had vocal opponents. Selig won them over. Selig was no digital devotee, but he saw it as an opportunity to divide a revenue stream equally. Turned out to be a game changer.

“To me, this was as important a day for us as when Pete Rozelle got [NFL owners] to share all their revenue. I didn’t have any idea about the internet and still don’t. But a bunch of owners had convinced me that we had to do something. This is, again, vision. Courage. Most important, it was a manifestation of the belief that if you do this together, you’ll do it far better than anybody can do it alone.”

PED reform

This was one on which Selig took a beating. Baseball’s steroid era came on his watch, and it continues to stain his tenure. But baseball is now widely regarded as the sport with the most effective testing program among the major U.S. properties, with the toughest set of penalties for offenders.

“We did what we had to do. And I’m proud of where we are today. When I went to George Mitchell [the former U.S. senator who conducted an internal investigation into PED use], nobody in my office wanted me to do it. Oh, were they mad. The union never did speak to George Mitchell. But I did it. I did everything along the way that I felt I had to, and it worked. And that’s why we are where we are today. Yes, it was slow. The same criticism as always. But there was no other way to do it.”

— Compiled by Bill King

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