MLB is aiming for a more national strategy, commissioner says

Major League Baseball is likely on a different trajectory than it was a couple years ago after the league implemented rule changes and renewed its focus on amplifying the talents of the its players, according to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred.

Manfred spoke at CNBC x Boardroom’s Game Plan sports business event on Tuesday afternoon along with former MLB greats CC Sabathia and Albert Pujols, touching on everything from regional sports networks to why young stars like the Cincinnati Reds’ Elly De La Cruz are so important to the game.

As part of its changing mentality, the MLB has its sights set on becoming a more national sport, according to Manfred. The league has typically been more regional, including with its broadcasting rights, but Manfred said to grow the sport the way he believes is possible will require a stronger focus on taking MLB games to a bigger audience.

“We need a more national strategy,” Manfred told CNBC’s Scott Wapner. “We’re blessed with a huge amount of content: 2,430 games. Because of the amount of content, I think there will be some local component but I think the strategy needs to be more national and our reach needs to be more national.”

Meanwhile, the MLB has been one of several leagues affected by the bankruptcy restructuring of Diamond Sports, the largest owner of regional sports networks in the country. Some teams have already parted ways with the regional networks and turned to the MLB itself to produce and air its games instead of Diamond Sports.

As for MLB’s star power, all three panelists said they’re excited about the talent the game has to offer. But Sabathia said the league needs to do a better job of creating and marketing star starting pitchers specifically.

“I don’t know if it’s more stars because I think we have stars,” Sabathia said. “I think we have [Aaron] Judge, we have [Shohei] Ohtani, We have [Juan] Soto. It’s star pitchers, it’s starting pitchers.”

As baseball has progressed, pitchers have thrown fewer and fewer innings — meaning the number of complete games and intensity of two elite starters going head-to-head has been reduced. The MLB has already tweaked rules to attempt to keep pitchers in the game longer, and the league is reportedly flirting with a minimum inning requirement for starting pitchers, according to ESPN.

Major League Baseball has already seen its fair share of changes recently. The league instituted rule changes in 2023 that included putting limits on the number of pickoffs as well as installing larger bases, and the result has been a boom in stolen bases the last two seasons. The shift, or realignment of players in the field, was also pared down, so there is more of an opportunity for batted balls to become hits or for players to make more athletic plays on the batted balls.

All three panelists also said it’s important to diversify the MLB’s audience. They noted that the league officially recognized statistics from the Negro Leagues for the first time earlier this year and has plans to do more work in underserved communities to attract a wider demographic of both players and fans.