The 2006 postseason Major League Baseball Awards are being presented on a daily basis and voters have already missed the boat on a variety of them. Baseball's Most Valuable Player, and Comeback Player of the Year didn't don a uniform this year and, has in fact, never worn a uniform. The real MVP, MLB commissioner Bud Selig, had a monster year — one of those Triple Crown seasons that players can only dream about. With from help from "teammates" like the president and chief operating officer for Major League Baseball, Bob Dupuy, Selig achieved just about every imaginable business goal.
The commissioner seemed to do the impossible: In October, he successfully negotiated, and was able to keep out of the spotlight, a new collective bargaining agreement between owners and the players' union. Players signed with no rancor and without the threat of a work stoppage. Selig and the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, Donald Fehr, appear to have worked out a partnership that probably was on a list of things least likely to happen in baseball considering the amount of mutual distrust that has existed for decades between the owners and players.
Of course, everyone at the table had a vested interest in getting a deal done. Both sides want to globalize with an eye toward maximizing revenue through international partnerships.
After the 2002 collective bargaining agreement, both the owners and players agreed to work in partnership to produce the World Baseball Classic. That experience probably contributed to the more positive vibe between Selig's owners and Fehr's players. In terms of on-field performance, the World Baseball Classic meant nothing and, most baseball fans probably would struggle to name the 2006 WBC winner (it was Japan).
However, the league and various international baseball federations did reach an understanding that it was in everyone's best interest for baseball to get a global footing in order to grow the industry economically. As the fledgling WBC enjoys exposure on six continents, Major League Baseball continues to explore how to introduce its product into China and tap into the country's marketplace.
The league may play some games in China, but it also has to build a merchandising strategy, selling T-shirts and caps in the world's most populous country as does the NBA, NFL, and NHL. Expansion into China also is key for MLB because the league must compete not only with golf, tennis, and soccer but also up-and-coming international sports like cricket. Selig, MLB officials, and other North American sports leagues know that cricket has a bigger international TV audience than they have and it's why the WBC was so critical to Major League Baseball planners. MLB needs a global footprint, not just a North American base.
The World Baseball Classic was merely a warm up for Selig, who got a new national over-the-air television deal done with FOX, extended the present cable deal with ESPN, and signed a new deal with Turner Sports that will bring more money to the industry. FOX will broadcast a Saturday Game of the Week, the All-Star Game, one of the League Championship Series alternating each year through 2013, and the World Series.
ESPN will continue with its regular season coverage but Turner has scooped up the preliminary playoffs and one of the League Championship Series rounds. While ESPN appears to be the big loser in the crown jewel department, the business of baseball and sports has changed and the changes have spawned new business opportunities.
ESPN ended up with exclusive national broadband and cellular rights to certain Major League Baseball properties, which in the long run may be far more valuable to both the self-proclaimed worldwide sports leader and MLB. ESPN Mobile may have been a failure but there will come a day when baseball video and other baseball intellectual properties will be a regular feature on all cell phones. ESPN could be the provider of that content if it positions itself well.
Meanwhile, Selig and his team were not through yet. Stadium revenue and real estate have become lifeblood for franchises. Selig, with absolutely no leverage from competing cities, locked one of the best ever stadium deals from the mayor of Washington, D.C.,a desperate Anthony Williams, who badly wanted a MLB team. The new Washington stadium will open in 2008 and, the owners of the Washington Nationals, the Lerner Family, will pocket virtually every penny made in the new facility.
Selig and his owners, who held onto the Montreal Expos franchise for a number of years, finally moved the organization to Washington after 2004 and played the stadium game brilliantly. Somehow, they got everything they wanted from Williams then asked for more, threatening to pull the plug on the stadium deal unless the mayor and the D.C. city council improved on the deal. Selig and the owners landed their deal then sold the club to the Lerners for more money than they could have imagined.
The commissioner also secured funding for new stadiums in Minneapolis, the Bronx and Queens, and Jackson County, Missouri, where voters passed a sales tax increase last April to renovate Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. Selig also will get new spring training facilities in Florida and Arizona.
The stadium fortunes for the Oakland A's are looking up. The Athletics' owner, Lewis Wolff, is set to announce next week plans to build a 36,000-seat stadium near San Jose, on a parcel of land in Fremont down the I-880 from Oakland.
There has been one failure along the way and there may be some bumps down the road. The Florida Marlins' owner, Jeffrey Loria, was unable to get funding for a new Miami Stadium. Loria is the third owner — Wayne Huizenga and John Henry preceded him — to strike out in the quest for a new south Florida ballpark.
Selig and MLB may cut Loria out from the stadium building process and could use the league's clout to pressure Miami-area politicians to spend the money needed to build a new ballpark. Selig and MLB are also ridded of Florida Governor Jeb Bush, which may be helpful in pursuing stadium funding for a Marlins park. Governor Bush refused to back any funding measures to build a new Miami-area baseball park. Selig and MLB officials view Miami as an important place to do business in international financial expansion because of the city's perceived role as a gateway to the Caribbean and South America.
The stigma of Barry Bonds and steroid use still looms above Selig and the major leagues. The BALCO grand jury is convening in San Francisco and Congress may continue to investigate the use of steroids and performanceenhancing substances in sports. In 2005, Selig was hauled before Congress to discuss MLB drug policies. While Congress, the press and broadcast outlets, and the president of International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, reacted with disdain in response to alleged steroid use in all levels of baseball, corporate America has largely ignored the issue, investing money through sponsorship and partnerships at record spending levels. Attendance at major league baseball games is, in turn, at record levels.
Selig will have to contend with Rogge, who recently attacked MLB again about its drug policies. Why Rogge would care about baseball is unclear as the International Olympic Committee has dropped the sport from competition following the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Rogge is opening the door to a reinstatement for 2016 but insists MLB must adhere to Olympic drug testing standards.
But Selig and MLB don't need Rogge or the Olympics. A man who was belittled when he talked of a baseball renaissance following the 1994-95 strike and cancellation of the World Series, Selig spearheaded a record-breaking 2006 season. And because of it, MLB is enjoying the best health of its lifetime.
