Rob Manfred: MLB would like to expand to 32 teams and six cities are being considered

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The league, which last expanded in 1998, has some tidying up to do, but for Commissioner Rob Manfred, he envisions a team in the Pacific and Eastern time zones. “Baseball is a growth industry,” Manfred said. “Eventually, we’d like to get to 32 teams.”

There are some good reasons for Manfred’s view on growth. MLB now sees gross revenues in excess of $10 billion, and with two new clubs the owners would likely garner $2 billion or more in expansion fees, not to mention new media rights revenues. With expansion would come regional realignment, and by then the universal DH would either be added or already implemented, given the union’s desire to bring the designated hitter to the National League.

As noted, baseball has some tidying up to do. For going on two decades, MLB has wanted the Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays to wrap up new ballparks, where the expectation is attendance and revenues would increase. And while the specter of relocation is always hanging over the two franchises, Manfred has made it clear to me and others that the focus is on keeping the A’s and Rays in their markets. Until then, expansion is on the league’s mind, but not at the forefront. “While we encourage markets to look into positioning themselves for the possible opportunity to host an MLB club, we aren’t discussing expansion at this time,” Manfred said.

Still, the conversation continues to percolate. In July 2018, Manfred said on FS1’s First Things First, “Portland, Las Vegas, Charlotte, Nashville in the United States, certainly Montreal, maybe Vancouver, in Canada” could be potential expansion markets. “We think there’s places in Mexico we could go over the long haul.”

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