As MLB Commissioner
Rob Manfred last week marked the one-year anniversary of his election to the sport’s top management post, many of his changes over the past 12 months were clearly evident.
He began with a unification of the sport’s disparate business operations, and named a new seven-member cabinet of senior executives reporting directly to him. Manfred then retooled MLB’s executive council, named St. Louis Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt Jr. to chair it, restructured many of the league’s other owner committees, and went on an extended tour during the winter and spring to visit each individual team.
Manfred is now making big changes to how MLB’s quarterly owner meetings are run, compared with those of predecessor Bud Selig. For years, many team owners privately grumbled about a relative lack of inclusion and transparency regarding league matters under Selig, and Manfred last summer ran for the commissioner’s job in part on a platform of active owner involvement.
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The meetings marked one year since Rob Manfred’s election as MLB commissioner.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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MLB owners meetings typically have included a full day of committee meetings, followed by a half-day general session involving roughly 100 executives, including league staffers and multiple representatives from all 30 clubs. Manfred has now supplemented that agenda with an executive session involving just him and one representative from each team, usually the owner. Within that smaller group, Manfred has attempted to spur a more vibrant exchange of ideas and something less formal and staid than the rest of the meetings.
“This has been a really progressive exchange of best practices,” said Larry Baer, San Francisco Giants president and chief executive. “It’s been a really valuable thing.”
Such a shift in meeting format has been particularly important this year as MLB prepares to begin formal bargaining soon with the MLB Players Association on a new labor deal. The current agreement expires after the 2016 season, and it is expected that both sides will seek numerous changes, particularly with regard to how amateur talent enters the professional ranks and accrues benefits.
“I am a big negotiation preparation person, and I believe that the more preparation you do, the better chance you have to make an effective deal,” Manfred said.
Numerous team owners said the structural shifts have helped energize meetings that often had not been relished.
“Rob’s been energized, very proactive at every level,” Oakland A’s owner Lew Wolff said. “He’s got his own style, which has been terrific. Everybody feels like they’re involved and can express their points of view.”
■ BAM TECH OK’D: MLB owners formally approved the establishment of BAM Tech as a stand-alone entity, and endorsed the continuing search for strategic investors and other investment opportunities.
BAM Tech has grown from a portion of MLBAM servicing digital media and streaming efforts of third-party content owners and programmers, and that growth has accelerated further in recent months through large-scale deals with the NHL and HBO, among others.
“The charge is to explore all transactional and financing opportunities to help fuel BAM Tech’s continued growth,” Manfred said.
Owners also approved folding MLB Properties organizationally back within the Office of the Commissioner. MLB Properties under Selig and the former executive vice president for business, Tim Brosnan, had existed as a separate holding company. But with Manfred’s unification of all MLB business under Bob Bowman, league president of business and media, such separation was no longer needed or wanted.
■ HELP FOR CANDIDATES: MLB also announced the hiring of executive search firm Korn Ferry to provide candidates — particularly minorities and women — assistance as they seek baseball operations positions. It is expected that numerous senior-level jobs, particularly at the club level, will become available this coming offseason, and the Korn Ferry retention is designed to spur additional inclusion.
“We think we can help diverse candidates make the best possible presentation and help them get hired,” Manfred said.
