If I Were MLB Commissioner: My Blueprint for the Future of Baseball
Baseball has an incredible history, but its business model is showing its age. Small-market teams struggle to compete, payrolls are wildly uneven, and fans are often priced out of following their favorite teams because local broadcasts are fragmented.
If I had the chance to redesign Major League Baseball, here's what I'd do.
Expansion to 32 Teams
I'd expand MLB to 32 franchises by adding teams in:
Salt Lake City
Nashville
Both markets have strong ownership interest, growing populations, and would immediately create new regional rivalries.
A 32-team league also makes scheduling and playoff formats much cleaner.
League Realignment
Expansion is the perfect opportunity to realign divisions based on geography instead of tradition.
The goals would be:
Reduce travel
Create regional rivalries
Increase television ratings
Improve competitive balance
(Some traditions are worth preserving. Others are simply habits.)
Three Separate Drafts
Instead of combining every amateur player into one draft, I'd separate the talent pools.
College Draft
Players from NCAA and other collegiate programs.
High School Draft
A dedicated draft allowing clubs to invest in younger talent without competing against polished college players.
International Draft
Create a standardized international draft to replace the current system, giving every club equal opportunities to acquire talent while improving transparency for international prospects.
A Real Salary Cap—and a Salary Floor
Every team should have financial flexibility, but every fan deserves ownership committed to winning.
I'd implement:
A hard salary cap
A mandatory salary floor
Teams that fail to reach the salary floor would lose eligibility for MLB revenue-sharing payments.
If owners want shared revenue, they should also share the responsibility of fielding a competitive team.
Flexible Spending After the All-Star Break
Teams making a postseason push should have more freedom to improve their rosters.
Beginning after the All-Star break:
Clubs may exceed the salary cap.
Every dollar above the cap is taxed through a luxury tax.
Luxury tax revenue would be redistributed throughout the league.
This rewards aggressive contenders while preventing unlimited spending.
Centralized Television Rights
Baseball's local television model is broken.
Every team's broadcast rights should belong to Major League Baseball.
National management would:
Eliminate blackout restrictions.
Create one streaming destination for every game.
Share television revenue equally among all clubs.
Increase competitive balance.
The NFL has already proven that shared media revenue strengthens the entire league.
A New Player Contract System
I'd simplify player movement while giving athletes the opportunity to earn their value earlier.
Years 1–2
Players remain under full club control.
Years 3–4
Restricted free agency.
Teams have the opportunity to match competing offers.
Year 5
Players become unrestricted free agents.
If a qualifying player signs elsewhere, the former club receives draft-pick compensation.
Annual Player Classifications
Every offseason, every player would receive one of five classifications based on recent performance.
Tier A
Tier B
Tier C
Tier D
Unclassified
Each tier would have salary ranges determined by position, creating a more transparent salary structure while still rewarding elite performance.
Superstars would still earn superstar money.
Role players would have predictable market values.
Teams would gain greater payroll certainty.
The Goal
Baseball doesn't need to become another sport.
It simply needs a system that rewards winning, encourages investment, promotes competitive balance, and makes the game easier for fans to watch.
The best era of baseball doesn't have to be behind us.
It could still be ahead.
This post is just an overview of my vision for the future of Major League Baseball. In the coming weeks, I'll take a deeper dive into each of these ideas—including expansion and realignment, the draft system, salary cap and revenue sharing, free agency, player compensation, and television rights. I know not everyone will agree with every proposal, and that's okay. My goal is to start a thoughtful conversation about how baseball can evolve while preserving what makes it America's pastime.
