Rob Manfred Outlines Details On Possible MLB Expansion

The exact date and where expansion might eventually land is still unknown, but MLB commissioner Rob Manfred gave some clues on the timeline as part of addressing the media at the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) meeting on Tuesday ahead of the All-Star Game in Seattle.

With the A’s nearing relocation to Las Vegas, and what Manfred citied as “meaningful discussions” within the Tampa Bay area for a new Rays ballpark, which Manfred said he hoped to be resolved “pretty soon”, the question then turned to when league expansion to 32 teams would occur.

“I hope shortly thereafter, we will put together an expansion committee and start talking internally first, about the issues associated with expansion,” Manfred said. “Obviously, there are economic issues, you’re talking about diminishing the central revenue available to each and the 30 clubs making it 32.”

Manfred said that there would need to be an examination of the impact of the additional clubs. That could take many forms including whether the new clubs would be revenue sharing payors or payees, as well as expansion fees which could potentially $2 billion for each of the two new clubs added to the league. “We would discuss what we’d would be looking for in terms of expansion, and the offset that I do think it fits in.”

Manfred also alluded to what the move to 32 teams would entail in terms of possible division realignment.

“Within my vision of expansion, you need to think about what you’re trying to accomplish for the sport from a competitive perspective, and deal with those issues before you get into one market, Manfred said. “And what do I mean by that? If you’re going to vote [to approve] 32 clubs, are you going to make more divisional changes? So there’s some internal work that’s going to take some time to get done and then I think ultimately, you go to the markets.”

Whether expansion comes five years or later, it’s possible that additional markets will vie for a team. Portland, Salt Lake City, Nashville, and Montreal have all shown interest with groups in varying degrees of organization. None have secured land for a ballpark location.

On top of these markets, maybe the one that is the biggest wild card is Oakland. While Manfred repeated that the city was unable to secure a ballpark package, by most accounting Oakland was approximately $88 million short. Could leadership in Oakland, knowing that a new owner would be involved rather than John Fisher throw their hat in? There are a few years to find out.