What does the future of sports look like? Commissioners weigh in

Kami Mattioli

What does the future of sports look like? Commissioners weigh in image

NEW YORK — What does the future of sports look like? In the shadow of cord-cutting, major sports stars retiring and various health issues plaguing sport as we know it now, that's what we're all trying to figure out. 

It's not just fans and journalists wondering what the future holds, though. 

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Once a year, the commissioners of all of the major sports sit across from sports editors from outlets across the country and have candid conversations about issues. It's a way for both parties to understand each other's platforms and, in some instances, spark change.

Last Thursday, Sporting News staffers went to each meeting to gather every commissioner's thoughts on some of this year's most noteworthy topics. Their thoughts and ideas are below. (Ed. note: Roger Goodell [NFL] and Mark Emmert [NCAA] were not available to speak on the record at this year's sessions.)

Expansion

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said expansion was something that baseball was considering as a "longer-term" idea, after tackling some issues with stadiums in Tampa and Oakland. Our Jesse Spector took a deeper dive into his comments, but it seems likely that the league is eyeing a return to Montreal.

"Even if I didn’t want to say this, I think the mayor of Montreal would probably tell you if you walked past him on the street that I have met with him on a number of occasions. They expressed their strong desire to have Major League Baseball back in Montreal. That’s a good thing. People want baseball," Manfred said. 

Expansion is always a topic du jour in the NBA as well, with fans clinging to shreds of hope that an NBA team may return to Seattle. NBA commissioner Adam Silver doesn't see that happening just yet, telling reporters on Thursday that there is "no strong internal push for expansion" and added that even if Seattle-area investor Chris Hansen builds a suitable arena, it doesn't mean the NBA will supply a franchise to fill it.

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Fans cutting the cord

With access to so many streaming options, more and more fans are getting creative in the ways in which they choose to consume sports content. That's problematic for all leagues and their sponsors, so most commissioners are keeping their eyes on the movement and the bottom line.

Says Manfred: "We believe that there will be erosion, continue to be erosion, but the cable model’s going to survive. It will survive, maybe in a slightly smaller size in terms of the number of people, but we do believe it’s gonna survive." He added that more than eight million people use MLB's "At Bat" app every day in season, and that the demographic of those users is "markedly different" than MLB's core TV audience.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman says his league is monitoring the changes closely but is not in a rush to make a snap decision. This offseason, the NHL partnered with MLB Advanced Media to redesign its platform and improve the livestreaming of games.

"The important decision made on streaming was our partnership with (MLBAM), and that’s working well," Bettman said.

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Politics and endorsements

The convergence of politics and sports has been an interesting one to monitor in this election year, and access to social media only serves to increase the platform that professional athletes have to endorse candidates. Each league handles endorsement policies in its own way, but most seemed to leave the door open for players to make those decisions on their own.

Silver said that he "encourages" NBA players to make political statements, so long as they are separate from a player's job on the court. Silver previously voiced his displeasure at players wearing "I can't breathe" shirts in response to the killing of Eric Garner, but he reiterated Thursday that his concern was the modification of the uniform and not the message.

NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France received a message loud and clear when he personally endorsed Donald Trump and received what he called a surprising amount of backlash for the announcement. Even so, he won't stop individual drivers from declaring their own political endorsements, should they choose to do it.

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"That’s their right, their civic right, to do whatever they want to do…We’re not policy makers. We may like one thing or another, or have one personal feeling or another, and it should be left at that," France said.

U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun took a similar stance.

"When it comes to things like politics, we’re Switzerland. We will work with whoever’s in power on the Hill and in the White House to make sure our athletes have the best possible opportunity to compete," Blackmun said. "So for us, those aren’t areas that we’re going to wade into. But at the end of the day, understand they certainly have the freedom to do so."

Fan and player safety

Leagues are continually burdened by trying to keep fans safe from harm amid the push to be closer to the action and for stadiums and arenas to become more intimate spaces. For each league, the depth and breadth of that task is different.

The USOC is working hand-in-hand with its Olympic athletes to find ways to keep them safe in Rio this summer, despite concerns over water quality and the Zika virus.

"I think it’s quite possible there’s going to be more Zika risk in the southern U.S. than there is going to be in Rio at that time. It's going to be August. It's going to be our summer. It will be their winter. And we’re going to have mosquitos that carry that virus. So I think focusing on Rio is probably not a fair thing to do at this point," Blackmun said, before clarifying that he was not trying to downplay the seriousness of the virus.

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As for the water, Blackmun offered this: "Yes, they did say they were going to 100% clean up the lagoon. At the end of the day, they may be at 60%. But 60% is better than 0%. So these games have had an extremely positive impact on the city of Rio."

Major League Baseball's involvement in fan safety is quite different but required a thorough analysis of already-implemented safety features — namely, netting. Manfred said the league will take a step back and take time to evaluate the changes to safety netting before deciding whether to adopt a new policy.

"We think we’re in much better shape on the netting issue than we were 12 months ago. We’ll see how this year goes, and to the extent that we’re gonna go further, it would be something we’d decide on — that is, do we want to do more? — during the 16-17 offseason."

The NHL took a similar stance, with commissioner Bettman explaining that fan safety was a constant presence in the minds of league brass.

"Overall, overwhelmingly, our fans conduct themselves magnificently, but if you get a few people who are doing the wrong things, there are procedures to deal with that," Bettman said.

Sporting News writers Jesse Spector and Michael McCarthy contributed to this story.

Kami Mattioli