Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred addresses challenges and solutions for "America's Pastime" created by technology

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred proclaimed himself "an analytics-based decision maker" at a National Press Club Newsmakers Luncheon on Monday, a day before MLB's All-Star game will be played at Nationals Park in Southeast Washington.

Manfred wove analytics into his answers to a variety of questions posed by Club board member and Nationals season-ticket holder Mike Freedman during a 60-minute Q&A session that replaced the usual formal speech format of Club luncheons.

"As with any business, you need new customers," Manfred said, explaining "alternative experiences" in the ballpark aimed at younger fans who do less planning and look for a more fluid entertainment experience.

One such innovation, MLB's Ballpark app on smart phones, allows customers to buy a single, low-cost admission for every game played in a given stadium in a calendar month, with no guarantee of a seat. The buyer can view the game from standing room around various refreshment stands or "buy up" to a seat using the app.

Research shows baseball teams offer two essential products -- the "in park experience" and the TV broadcast, Manfred said. The "fundamental tension" that creates is devising a game presentation that doesn't alienate the hard-core fan base, while still providing an event that different age groups will enjoy at the stadium.

Addressing a situation that has defied an analytical solution almost from the time the Nationals moved to Washington in 2005, Manfred said "we have made some progress" on the legal battle over how much revenue the Nationals should receive from the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), which is jointly owned by the Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles. Efforts by the league office to resolve the revenue sharing dispute have led to years of lawsuits and arbitrations, with no resolution. Manfred said MLB's revenue-sharing committee will decide the issue, with meetings to "begin shortly." He said he is hopeful that will lead to a resolution "that will not prompt anyone to go back to court."

On other issues Manfred said:

-- Lower attendance in 2018 is attributable to game time temperatures for 35 games in April that dipped below 40 degrees. In 2017, only two games started in such chilly conditions.

-- Both traditional media and new media "are interested in our content," referencing mid-week day games televised only on Facebook on the Internet. Baseball, he pronounced, is a "leader in the technology space."

-- Traditional wisdom was that hitters would adjust when analytics suggested shifting all four infielders to the one side of the field where an individual hitter was prone to hit. Hitters adjusted, not by learning to hit the ball to the side where there were no infielders, but by trying to hit the ball over the heads of the defenders. Now the league is trying to analyze what would happen if rules are changed to outlaw such shifts. For fans who resent front office personnel injecting analytics into on-field decisions, he said "you can't tell people 'Don't run your business that way.'" Baseball owners are "people who want to make more money and win more ball games."

-- It is 100% possible for there to be women umpires; it is 100% possible that a woman could become commissioner. MLB is going to "continue to support" women's baseball tournaments where women are playing the exact same game as men, as opposed to playing softball with different equipment, a shorter pitching distance and bases closer together.

-- There are cities in the U.S., Mexico and Canada that could be good prospects for a major league expansion franchise, but for now that is not a "front-burner issue." He said MLB must first deal with Oakland and Tampa Bay stadium issues. He did say having 32 teams, instead of the current 30 makes scheduling easier.

-- The challenge of the new era of nationwide legalized sports betting -- which MLB did not support -- is ensuring that laws are developed that allow the league to maintain "the integrity of the sport." He emphasized that no on-field or off-field baseball personnel will be allowed to bet on baseball.

-- The average per-game time consumed over the course of a season by replay reviews of calls is one minute, since many games have no replays. As technology improves -- such as the introduction of super slow motion -- the delays become shorter.