MLB: 5 tasks new commissioner should prioritize

5. Enhance presence and play games in Europe

At present, MLB is the only significant North American sports league yet to venture with clear intent onto European soil. The NFL has harnessed deep-seated British interest to annex London, with sold-out games at Wembley Stadium substantiating claims for a UK-based franchise. Similarly, the NBA has staged meaningful games at various locations throughout England, whilst NHL executives have blazed a trail through Scandinavian and into Russia.

Baseball, ever the pearl of romantic traditionalism, hasn’t made the leap of faith.

A part of me actually respects this immensely. The game is definitively American; a means of recreation for, and a very symbol of, the people of this nation. By exporting baseball overseas, many fear it will lose the respectability, charm and integrity so laboriously built-up over many decades.

Diehards don’t want baseball to become like football, bestriding the globe in the heartless pursuit of dollars.

However, Selig, a visionary Commissioner, embraced a global mission which took baseball further than ever before, with games in Japan and Puerto Rico and Australia under his aegis. Admittedly, he worked hard to support the construction of a Major League-ready ballpark in the Dutch town of Hoofddorp, hoping to set the wheels in motion for future games in Europe, but many hurdles remain. Manfred must embrace and enrich the challenge if this project is to flourish.

An untapped, sports-obsessed enclave, Europe has a comparatively small but loyal baseball fanbase, and, in expanding his organisation into this market, the Commissioner-elect would put the game in a great position to attract even more revenue and win new fans.

Football, basketball and ice hockey are already sat around this particular table, but there is plenty of food to go around. Rob Manfred and friends must help themselves.