Manfred: The man for the job

Editor’s note: This story is revised from the print edition.

By the time his five-year contract extension runs out in 2024, Rob Manfred’s tenure as commissioner will be the fifth-longest in baseball history. Getty Images

The first election for MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred in August 2014 was a bruising affair that required multiple rounds of voting, all while Manfred was, as he put it, “spending a really dreadful day in a not very nice hotel suite in Baltimore.” 

Following Manfred’s election, MLB owners pointed to what they called “constructive dissent” as to why the process took so long and how he ultimately prevailed over Boston Red Sox Chairman Tom Werner to succeed Bud Selig.

Four years later, there was no dissent at all as Manfred sailed through his reelection with a unanimous vote at the owners meetings in Atlanta and was rewarded with a five-year contract extension. The deal, which will carry the 60-year-old Manfred through the 2024 season, came with such little fanfare that it was overshadowed at last week’s meetings by newly signed media rights deals with Fox Sports (seven years, $5.1 billion) and DAZN, respectively. 

Those deals signal continued media upheaval, but that is far from the only issue Manfred will face in the coming years. He will also have to resolve the facility situations in Oakland and Tampa, treat wounds in the relationship with the players’ union, and rebuild attendance that fell to its lowest mark in 15 years this past season.

But he’s already had a number of wins in his administration, as he’s overseen the $2.58 billion sale of BAMTech to Disney, a new five-year labor deal with the MLBPA, a broad central office reorganization and a heightened focus on youth participation.

“Commissioner Manfred has brought a lot of good things to baseball in the last five years,” said Texas Rangers chief operating officer Neil Leibman. “His relationship with the owners is very transparent, and the next five years with him are going to bring baseball another step further. The [2014] election was interesting, but it’s good that we now have uniformity of thought here.” 

In contrast with Selig, who often operated one-on-one, Manfred’s style has been more communal in his dealings with owners, as evidenced again in Atlanta by the newer, supplemental part of last week’s meetings that was just the commissioner and lead owners  — no staff, team presidents or minority owners.

“It seems impossible that four years have gone by,” Manfred said. “But every day has really been a great experience for me. People overestimate the difficulties. I’m not saying they’re not there, but the great parts of this job really outweigh all that.”