Baseball may be timeless, but the business of baseball has radically changed in recent years.
After several scintillating postseasons, a new collective-bargaining agreement to boost revenue sharing and a reorganization of MLB’s business division, the sport is now in a very different place than in its dark days of the late 1990s and early in the new millennium, and it stands at all-time highs in several key measures of fiscal success.
That historic economic run-up has significantly changed the power structure within baseball. MLB Commissioner Bud Selig remains the undisputed titan of the sport, repeating his standing atop SportsBusiness Journal’s list of the 20 Most Influential People in Professional Baseball. Beneath Selig on that list, however, are seven individuals whose names are new to the ranking since the last such list was compiled, in 2004, a reflection of that new reality.
The rankings are a result of an extensive evaluation by SBJ editors and reporters and include the consultation of many key decision-makers in and around baseball.
