Major League Baseball

History and Governance

Major League Baseball's lineage begins with the National League, founded on February 2, 1876 in New York City by William Hulbert and club owners, and with Ban Johnson's American League, which became a major league in 1901. The 1903 National Agreement formally unified the two leagues into the structure that became modern MLB. The office of Commissioner was created in 1920 after the Black Sox scandal; Kenesaw Mountain Landis was the first to hold it. In 2000 the two leagues were legally consolidated into a single entity under the Commissioner's Office. The current Commissioner, Rob Manfred, was elected in August 2014 and took office in January 2015.

Business Model and Revenue

The Commissioner's Office operates as a central rights-holder and commercial agent on behalf of 30 member clubs. It negotiates national broadcast agreements, signs league-wide sponsorship deals, licenses official data, and sells media and streaming subscriptions. Forbes and other external estimates put league-wide revenue near $11 billion in 2023-24, though MLB does not publish a precise consolidated figure. Club-level revenue from local media, ticketing and in-park spending is generated separately by each franchise; the league office's own revenue comes primarily from national media and centralized commercial rights.

Media and Technology Platforms

MLB's media and technology footprint includes MLB Network, a 24/7 cable and streaming channel; MLB.TV, a direct-to-consumer live-game service; the MLB At Bat mobile app; and the MLB Ballpark app for ticketing and in-park services. The league's Statcast platform uses optical and radar tracking to generate advanced analytics, broadcast visuals and data products, with a public interface at BaseballSavant.mlb.com. Historically, the league's technology capabilities were concentrated in MLB Advanced Media, whose streaming arm was sold to Disney in 2018 and became Disney Streaming; MLB retained MLB.TV, MLB.com, MLB Network and its data operations.

Sports Betting and Gaming

After the Supreme Court struck down PASPA in May 2018, MLB pivoted from opposition to monetization of regulated sports betting. The league's gaming business is led by Executive Vice President Kenny Gersh and includes multi-year official sportsbook agreements with DraftKings, FanDuel, bet365, BetMGM, Caesars and Bally Bet. In 2019, MLB granted Sportradar exclusive distribution rights to its official live betting data and introduced an integrity-monitoring program. The league also maintains a sports-betting information hub at mlb.com/sports-betting and enforces Major League Rule 21, which prohibits players and employees from betting on baseball. During 2024, that framework was tested by the permanent ban of Tucupita Marcano for betting on games and by the investigation of Shohei Ohtani's interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, whose guilty plea to fraud charges related to illegal gambling did not lead to charges against Ohtani.

Competitive Position and Market Scale

MLB competes for betting partnerships, media dollars and data licensing revenue with the NFL, NBA and NHL. Its exceptionally long regular season — 2,430 games — and nearly daily schedule make it a high-volume feed for sportsbooks, a structural advantage in data and official betting partnerships. MLB was also an early investor in the legal-gambling economy through MLBAM's minority stake in DraftKings in 2015. The central organization is comparatively lean relative to club operations: press reports suggest about 1,000-1,500 staff in the New York Commissioner's Office and several hundred at MLB Network, for a combined central headcount in the roughly 1,500-2,500 range.

Leadership Structure

MLB does not use corporate titles such as CEO or CTO in its public executive slate. The Commissioner, Rob Manfred, acts as the league's chief executive. Dan Halem is Deputy Commissioner and Chief Legal Officer; Chris Marinak is Chief Operations and Strategy Officer; Noah Garden is Chief Revenue Officer; Karri Davis is Chief Marketing Officer; and Morgan Sword is Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations. Kenny Gersh heads gaming and new business ventures. This leadership team manages the league's media, sponsorship, data, integrity and gaming functions from the New York headquarters.