ATLANTA — Baseball owners have locked down their commissioner, and their main broadcast partner, too.

Any decisions on speeding up the game and perhaps making it more enjoyable to watch will have to wait.

After wrapping up two days of meetings at a hotel next to the Atlanta Braves’ SunTrust Park, the owners announced a new contract for Commissioner Rob Manfred, keeping him on the job at least through the 2024 regular season. Manfred, 60, started a five-year term in January 2015.

The owners also signed off on a new television deal with Fox, which still has three seasons to go on its current eight-year contract that pays baseball an average of $525 million per season.

The seven-year extension, which runs through 2028, will be worth just over $5 billion – roughly a 36 percent increase to an average of about $715 million per season.

Manfred was asked whether the owners had any reservations to making such a long-term commitment, especially giving the rapidly changing dynamics of the broadcast and online industries.

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“I’m a huge believer in the idea that when you have a good partner, even when you’re looking at an uncertain landscape, that good partners find a way to navigate that uncertain landscape,” the commissioner said.

The relationship with Fox, which began in 1996, will continue to include the World Series and All-Star Game, as well as extensive playoff coverage on both the network and its all-sports cable channel, FS1.

The new agreement also commits Fox to showing more games from the League Championship Series on its main network, beginning in 2019. It was criticized for televising all but one game in this year’s seven-game NLCS between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers on FS1, which has a narrower distribution.

Manfred said MLB is expected to announce a host for the 2021 All-Star Game early next year.

MARLINS: The team unveiled new colors and a new logo in a rebranding effort under Derek Jeter’s year-old ownership regime, and the old orange is out.

Blue, black, red and gray and the new colors. The logo features a darting marlin above baseball seams and “Miami” in script.


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