A Conversation with Robert D. Manfred, Jr., Commissioner of Baseball

Commissioner of Baseball Robert D. Manfred, Jr., sat down with Samuel H. Kennedy, president and chief executive officer of the Boston Red Sox, at the March 6 meeting of the Boston College Chief Executives Club. Manfred, baseball’s commissioner since 2015, discussed his goals for the industry, including expanded youth participation, international growth, increased marketing of the game's young stars, and furtherance of the game's diversity goals. In discussing player negotiations, Manfred said, “It’s not just what you do when you’re a year away from expiration, it’s how you conduct yourself during the term of the agreement. It’s a give and take.” Under Manfred’s leadership, Major League Baseball has produced a new five-year collective bargaining agreement, and sold a 75 percent stake in BAMTech, a leading technology services and video streaming company created by the league, to The Walt Disney Company. The oldest of the top four professional sports leagues in North America, MLB routinely draws approximately 70 million fans per season, earning revenues reportedly near $10 billion per year.