February 16, 2024

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MLB commissioner Rob Manfred still has a hefty list of issues in front of him as he now plans to retire when his contract ends in early 2029. … NASCAR champion Ryan Blaney talks with Front Office Sports in front of Sunday’s Daytona 500. … Big money awaits the winner of not only The Great American Race but also the NBA All-Star Game and PGA Tour’s Genesis Invitational. … Plus: More on MLB in South Korea, golfers on social media, Nike, and ESPN Bet.

— Eric Fisher [[link removed]]

Manfred Faces a Very Full Plate in What Will Be His Last Term [[link removed]]

Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports

There is now a defined endpoint for the Rob Manfred era in baseball, as the MLB commissioner confirmed Thursday he intends to retire [[link removed]] in January 2029 with the end of his contract extension signed [[link removed]] last summer.

It’s already been a highly impactful and often-tumultuous nine-year run for Manfred, with his tenure to date including transformative rules changes such as the pitch clock, a big attendance resurgence following many years of decline, a 99-day lockout of players before the 2022 season, a historic overhaul of the affiliated minor leagues, and the Astros’ cheating scandal from ’17.

But the next 59 months are likely to be even more dramatic as Manfred puts his final stamp on the game, concluding a three-decade-plus association with the league that began with his work as outside labor counsel before joining MLB full time in 1998. Among the key issues still in front of Manfred:

A’s and Rays: The two teams’ long-running stadium issues—one of the thorniest problems Manfred inherited when he formally began his term in early 2015—have both made significant progress in recent months. But hurdles remain. The Rays are still finalizing specific terms [[link removed]] of a planned $1.3 billion ballpark, while the A’s have ongoing battles [[link removed]] in both Oakland [[link removed]] and Las Vegas [[link removed]]. Expansion: For years a hot topic, the prospect of expanding to 32 teams has been delayed by the Oakland and Tampa facility situations. But Manfred now hopes to have a process “in place” to add teams before he departs. Local media: Given the volume of games involved, MLB is more exposed than any other league to the ongoing Diamond Sports Group bankruptcy [[link removed]]. The league has actively worked to ensure that no game broadcasts are lost to fans, standing up production and distribution for the Padres, Diamondbacks, and now the Rockies, while DSG has struck some short-term rights deals [[link removed]] during its attempted reorganization. But the bigger challenge of how to replace winnowing regional sports network revenues in the age of accelerating cord-cutting remains a particularly difficult one. National media: MLB’s current rights deals with Fox, ESPN, and Warner Bros. Discovery, collectively worth about $12 billion, all expire at the end of the 2028 season. Those same three companies are also now part of a dramatic new sports-oriented streaming service [[link removed]]. As other top leagues in recent years have achieved big increases for their national rights, Manfred will be under pressure for similar results. Labor and economics: After a bruising round of labor talks in 2021–22 with the MLB Players Association that included a 99-day lockout, the current collective bargaining agreement expires after the ’26 season. Core economic issues will again rise to the forefront, particularly as the $245 million difference between the largest and smallest team payrolls [[link removed]] in ’24 is 63% higher than the comparable $150 million spread [[link removed]] just five years ago. MASN/Nationals/Orioles: The Orioles are now being sold [[link removed]] to private equity billionaire David Rubenstein, while a potential sale of the Nationals has languished for about two years, in part because of the complexity and ongoing dispute surrounding the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network the two teams share. Following a recent agreement [[link removed]] on the 2017–21 rights term, Manfred recently suggested the Orioles sale could prompt a bigger resolution to the MASN impasse, saying “change always produces an opportunity.” Youth: Like any other league commissioner, Manfred faces the existential challenge of making the next generation of fans as avid in their fandom as the ones before. There was some progress on that front in 2023, as the median age of MLB ticket buyers dropped [[link removed]] by six years compared to ’19. Succession: The process by which Manfred was elected commissioner in August 2014 was a messy one, requiring several owner votes to produce sufficient support. More broadly, none of Manfred’s recent commissioner predecessors have had a clean exit, with delayed retirement, owner-led ousters, sudden death, and collusion to suppress player salaries all marring the ends of their terms to varying degrees.

Manfred will be 70 at the end of the contract term, and he appears to be relishing the chance of a more normal retirement, saying, “You can only have so much fun in one lifetime.”

Owners ultimately will make the call on the next commissioner, but it bears watching whether current deputy commissioners Dan Halem and Noah Garden, chief operations and strategy officer Chris Marinak, or other potential candidates begin to rise further in stature.

FOS With Ryan Blaney: NASCAR Champ Talks Netflix, Racing Changes [[link removed]]

Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

Ryan Blaney, who won his first NASCAR Cup Series championship last season, is hoping to start his title defense in 2024 with another first this weekend, by becoming a Daytona 500 winner. Ahead of the 66th running of The Great American Race on Sunday, Front Office Sports caught up with Blaney to talk about becoming one of the sport’s best drivers, and how he’s capitalizing on the newfound stardom. Below are excerpts from the conversation, some of which have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

On the profits of winning last season’s championship

Away from the track, it was really neat to open up some doors, whether it’s in other realms of sports or entertainment. It’s always nice to meet athletes from other sports and share something with them, if they’ve won championships in their respective sports, and pick the minds of other folks who’ve achieved something like that. I always find that pretty fascinating. It’s good to grow your name. I always try to look down the road, when I’m not racing anymore, what am I going to do? It’s a privilege to accomplish something in your sport that gives you an opportunity to meet some really neat people that you can have some personal ventures with. It just comes with the title.

On filming Full Speed, Netflix’s new docuseries following the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs

I enjoyed having Netflix around. We’re used to having cameras around, so it wasn’t too much. But they were very, very involved. And I tried to open up as much as I could. I was pretty lucky to have them film me—like in the motorhome after a couple wins. I thought this will be cool to see—the come down off of the high from winning, having a couple beers in the bus and just talking about the race. It’s nice to show what our lives are like. Some are more glamorous than others. I would say I try to keep it as least glamorous as I can. I’m looking forward to, hopefully, filming more. If they do the second season, I don’t know if they film the whole year—36 weeks is a long time—but maybe you do a couple months leading up to the playoffs. Those are stressful times, too.

On what he would change about NASCAR

I never would have thought a handful of years ago that we’d ever run around the streets of Chicago. We did that last year, and I think that’s cool. It brought a whole new audience to the sport and people loved it. So, I think doing some more of that is good. You have to stick to our roots, in the main way, but branching out and doing that stuff is really good. Personally, from a driver’s perspective, I’d like to maybe have one or two more weekends off throughout the year, instead of going four or five months straight, having one break, and then four or five months again. But that’s a personal vendetta I got. I think expanding to these new areas and audiences is super important. That’s how you continue to grow, but it’s getting harder and harder to appease people nowadays. I feel like it’s harder to grab people, and that’s across the board.

SPONSORED BY ’47

Fueling the Fashion Game

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The Massachusetts-based brand, known for best-in-class headwear and apparel, has a rich history of licensing deals with major sports leagues and universities. Now, it’s adding NASCAR to its roster of iconic partners [[link removed]].

’47, which sold 25 million units of headwear in 2023, aims to leverage NASCAR’s loyal fan base and growing popularity to expand its global reach and offer high-quality goods to motorsports enthusiasts. The collaboration includes designing gear for the organization and popular teams like Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske, and Joe Gibbs Racing.

As the 2024 NASCAR season ramps up, fans can express their love for racing like never before with ’47’s renowned designs. Read the full article [[link removed]] to learn more about this synergistic partnership.

SURVEY So, What Do You Call It?

FOS illustration

When ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery announced last week that they were teaming up on some sort of sports streaming super bundle [[link removed]], media types were left scratching their heads. How will it work? How much will it cost? And the biggest question, which has made it difficult to even talk about the deal: What will it be called? With no answers yet from any of the involved parties, some part-time solutions have bubbled up. Puck’s John Ourand [[link removed]] points out that “Spulu” is catching on as shorthand. The telecoms research firm LightShed [[link removed]], in its analysis, dubbed the package the “Winners’ Bundle.” And a report from The Desk [[link removed]] suggests that “Hulu Sports” is under consideration. What would you call a streaming service that lumps together the likes of ESPNU, FS2, and TruTV, with coverage of everything from the NFL to the Mountain Bike World Cup?

📬 Reply to this email [mailto:[email protected]] with your suggestions, and we’ll run our favorites in an upcoming newsletter.

WEEKEND PRIZE POOL Racin’ for Cash

John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

Front Office Sports tees up every weekend sporting slate with a ledger of the purses and prize pools at stake. Here’s what’s up for grabs this weekend:

PGA Tour, The Genesis Invitational

When: Thursday to Sunday Purse: $20 million First place (individual): $4 million

NASCAR Cup Series, Daytona 500

When: Sunday Purse: $28,035,991 (record) First place: Individual payouts are no longer disclosed

NBA All-Star Weekend

When: Friday to Sunday All-Star Game winners: $100,000 (each player) All-Star Game losers: $25,000 (each player) Slam Dunk Contest winner: $100,000 3-Point Contest winner: $50,000 STATUS REPORT Two Up, Two Down

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

MLB in South Korea ⬆ Tickets to see the Dodgers and Padres open the MLB season in South Korea on March 20 sold out within an hour, and fans in the country may be getting a lot more baseball in the coming years. “MLB expressed its intention to visit regularly in the future if this event goes well,” Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon told Bloomberg [[link removed]].

Nike ⬇ The shoe giant is expected [[link removed]] to lay off roughly 2% of its workforce. In December, the company said it was looking to reduce its costs by $2 billion over the next three years. With roughly 84,000 employees, the layoffs will impact about 1,700 people. Nike is expected to have a second round of staff cuts, which will be done by the end of the fourth quarter.

YouTube golfers ⬆ Ahead of the PGA Tour’s new event in South Carolina, the Myrtle Beach Classic during the first week of May, 16 golf personalities who have large followings on YouTube, TikTok, and other social media platforms will play in a special 18-hole tournament [[link removed]], with the winner earning a spot in the PGA Tour field to compete for a portion of the $3.9 million purse.

ESPN Bet ⬇ The launch of the sports wagering product led to a loss [[link removed]] of $333.8 million across Penn Entertainment’s fourth-quarter gambling operations. More than one million first-time depositors cashed in on lucrative promotional offers.

FRONT OFFICE SPORTS AWARDS

Best Venues Award Now Open

Whether hosting Formula One, the WNBA, or the Triple Crown, sports venues house some of the world’s most beloved brands and loyal fans.

Don’t miss your opportunity to showcase your venue’s success! Employing data-driven methodology, the Best Venues award [[link removed]] recognizes the sports venues’ implementation of technology, mobile app capabilities, food options, transportation, venue design, and mixed-use development components, as well as VIP and overall guest experiences.

The submission period for Best Venues is open now through April 8 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Take advantage of early submissions through Feb. 25. Learn more about the award and submit your venue. [[link removed]]

Conversation Starters Taylor Swift has donated [[link removed]] $100,000 to a GoFundMe fundraiser for the family of Lisa Lopez-Galvan, who was killed while attending the Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade on Wednesday afternoon. The GoFundMe goal was $75,000, and it has surpassed [[link removed]] more than $240,000 as of Friday. The first two episodes [[link removed]] of Apple’s new 10-part docuseries, The Dynasty: New England Patriots, are now streaming. Caitlin Clark’s list of accomplishments, accolades, and deals continues to grow [[link removed]]. And on Thursday night the Iowa basketball star became the NCAA women’s all-time leading scorer. Editors’ Picks Wilson Introduced an Airless Basketball for $2,500. We Had Questions [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]The black, 3D-printed ball appeared in last year’s Slam Dunk Contest. New A’s Renderings May at Last Be Near. One Exec Says He’s Seen Them [[link removed]]by Eric Fisher [[link removed]] MGM CEO claims to have viewed three different versions of the ballpark site plan. Milestone Missed: Caitlin Clark Broke a Record. NBC Blew an Opportunity [[link removed]]by Amanda Christovich [[link removed]]NBC skipped an opportunity to put women’s college basketball history in front of hundreds of millions of homes. Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Podcast [[link removed]] Sports Careers [[link removed]] Written by Eric Fisher [[link removed]], David Rumsey [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

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