Rob Manfred is the new baseball commissioner. He is Bud Selig's preferred successor, but it took a few votes from owners to get him through. 22 owners supported him, while there were 8 strong holdouts for the other candidate, Red Sox chairman Tom Werner.
Manfred has been a baseball executive with the league office. His primary duties have been negotiating labor peace with the union, and to implement and enforce the new drug policies.
Werner, as an owner, was touted by White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf. Reinsdorf has always believed that the baseball commissioner should look out for the interests of the owners. And the best way to do that is to have an owner or former owner in charge. Reinsdorf thought that an owner would have better insight on the pros and cons, and operational issues that all ball clubs would face in the future. In addition, Werner has the expertise in television and media operations, which is the key revenue areas for the sport.
It would seem that the majority of baseball owners deemed labor peace over expanding television revenues.
Many baseball writers stated that baseball is in decline (at least from an attendance situation). Baseball games last too long. Less kids are playing the sport. There are so many other activities people participate in that baseball is falling down in popularity. The primary job of the new commissioner is to stem the falling tide.
There are storm clouds on the horizon. Baseball has become more and more dependent on television revenue. As a result, baseball has saturated the airwaves to the point of become static noise to many viewers. There is no longer appointment television, like the Game of Week, because viewers can see games every night. Even the most ardent cupcake eater will stop consuming cake after a while.
The new Dodgers local television deal should be a wake up call that cable television ceiling is finite. Billion dollar revenue deals may be a thing of the past. More people are cutting their cable cords. Distributors like cable and satellite companies refuse to pay large carriage fees for new sports channels. Younger viewers are consuming more of their entertainment content in mobile platforms. If baseball is to capture that mobile youth market, someone with industry vision needs to be in charge.
That may have been one of the motivations for the Werner candidacy: keeping the golden goose golden. The other may have been a harder line stance against player salary increases, since that is the biggest expensive of any club. Clayton Kershaw's $200 million deal sends shivers through other owners spines and pocket books. Reinsdorf always believed that a starting pitcher should never get more than a 4 year contract. He was right, statistically, that starters would break down after that time, creating dead money on the payroll. Some owners want to try to cork the free agency dollar tsunami by placing a hard liner as commissioner instead of a negotiator-peace maker.
The one unknown going forward is how Manfred sees himself as commissioner. In the other sports, commissioners have taken upon themselves to be the visionary sheriff to create an immediate legacy on their sport. As a result, dumb mistakes and overreaching can occur. A commissioner is supposed to protect the game and its traditions, and not to remake it in his own image.
