State of the CBA – 2025 Season
FROM THE DESK OF COMMISSIONER –
As the 2025 season nears its beginning, I’d like to thank all of you – the fans, the players, the coaches, and everyone working in the front offices of our 30 fine clubs – for making the CBA what it is today. Years ago we were laughed at, a second thought to the other major sports. After all, baseball had come and gone from the American zeitgeist. We were crazy to try to breathe life into a game made for a much different era. It’d never work, they said.
How wrong they were.
As you all know, baseball has reclaimed its spot as a major sport in the United States. Attendance, merchandise sales, TV numbers and fan interest for the CBA are all right on track with the NFL, MLS and NBA, surpassing previous records set for baseball interest by the league-who-shall-not-be-named. Dozens of legitimate and big time independent leagues have sprouted up throughout the US, hoping to someday give the CBA a run for their money.
An unforeseen but highly successful part of this new frontier of baseball has been the sponsorships. Our family of businesses and brands have really stepped up to ensure that the CBA is the pinnacle of baseball in the world. In talking with Commissioner Sherman in the NFL, our success with sponsors was also a huge benefactor in getting logos on the jerseys of professional football teams as well. It’s also given the MLS and NBA a few ideas into how they can further incorporate corporate sponsorship into their programs.
But, of course, none of this would be possible without the talent of the players. We’ve been very happy with the talent coming up through our high school baseball academies and NCAA and NJCAA teams. We’re seeing more and more talented athletes choose baseball early on in their lives and entering these programs. More and more young talents are joining our clubs at ages as young as 15 and 16, and progressing and developing under the tutelage of major league staff. I’m looking forward to these young men one day becoming stars in the league.
Speaking of stars, our ever-growing list of superstars have been exactly what baseball has always sorely missed. As faces of the league and ambassadors of baseball, players like Mike Becklin, Jim Forristall and Edwin Nadal are giving those aforementioned young players solid role models to look up to a level of greatness they can aspire to. From speaking to coaches around the league, it’s become clear to me that there are very few bad eggs throughout the CBA, and that’s a trend that I hope continues throughout the league’s history.
As we look to the future of our league, there will surely continue to be occasional bumps in the road. I’ve painted a rosy picture of the CBA today, but to be frank, there have been a lot of challenges we’ve needed to overcome during our short time. Thanks to those in the commissioner’s office, as well as the owners, General Managers and coaches on the Rules Committee, we’ve been able to successfully navigate through the tough times with solutions that have been not only fair to everyone, but fun as well. I hope that this solid support system for the league continues and prospers into the future.
2026 will be our fifth season playing baseball – how time flies! I thank all of you for sticking with us through our infancy, and for making our baseball league the best baseball league in the world.