In recently released emails, Wasserman was linked to Jeffrey Epstein<\/a> and his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell. The board retained a law firm to investigate, the statement said, and the review did not uncover any behavior beyond what was already known: a \u201csingle interaction with Epstein\u201d on a plane flight for a humanitarian mission and raunchy emails with Maxwell, both two decades ago, before the \u201cdeplorable crimes\u201d of both became public.<\/p>\n \u201cBased on these facts, as well as the strong leadership he has exhibited over the past ten years, Mr. Wasserman should continue to lead LA28 and deliver a safe and successful Games,\u201d the committee statement said.<\/p>\n Epstein died by suicide after his indictment on sex trafficking charges in 2019. Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking in 2021.<\/p>\n Manfred declined to say whether he was concerned that an association with Wasserman could be detrimental for baseball.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to pass on that one,\u201d Manfred said. \u201cPeople much closer to that situation are better to opine on that.\u201d<\/p>\n Mark Attanasio, the Los Angeles-based owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, is a member of the LA28 executive committee. Attanasio said he would let the statement speak for itself.<\/p>\n While baseball is not new to the Olympics, the participation of major leaguers would be. In past Olympics, MLB declined to interrupt its season so its players could travel halfway around the world, and Team USA featured minor leaguers and college players.<\/p>\n MLB players already travel to Los Angeles every summer, and Wasserman has pitched Manfred and MLB owners in a variety of meetings on the benefit of using major leaguers at a time the league is focused on broadening its international appeal.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat an incredible opportunity to elevate the sport in a city where you have one of the great cathedrals of the sport,\u201d Wasserman told The Times last year<\/a>. \u201cThere is no better chance to tell the global story of baseball than from the Olympics in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n \u201cThey understand that. We could have another Dream Team, or two, depending on the countries. That is a vehicle to tell the story of baseball around the world, and that is really powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n MLB and LA28 officials have worked out a tentative timeline<\/a> under which the All-Star Game would be played in its usual mid-July spot in 2028, most likely in San Francisco, followed by a six-day, six-team Olympic baseball tournament at Dodger Stadium.<\/p>\n \u201cI think people have come to appreciate that the Olympics on U.S. soil is a unique marketing opportunity for the game,\u201d Manfred said Thursday. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of players interested in doing it, and I feel pretty good about the idea we\u2019ll get there.\u201d<\/p>\n Are the Dodgers good for baseball? Outfielder Kyle Tucker adjusts his Dodgers cap during his introductory news conference at Dodger Stadium on Jan. 21.<\/p>\n (Ronaldo Bola\u00f1os\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n The Dodgers\u2019 signing of outfielder Kyle Tucker<\/a> \u2013 for $60 million per year \u2013 revived the debate<\/a> over whether the big-spending, star-studded, back-to-back champions are good for baseball.<\/p>\n \u201cI think great teams are always good for baseball,\u201d Manfred said. \u201cI think, with respect to this particular great team, it added to what we have been hearing from fans in a lot of markets for a long time about the competitiveness of the game. But great teams are always good for baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n MLB officials have cited that fan concern repeatedly over the last year, prelude to an expected push for a salary cap. Manfred declined to discuss the owners\u2019 labor strategy but said he expected negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement to begin after Opening Day and said he would not talk about MLB proposals until they are presented to the players\u2019 union.<\/p>\n The current agreement expires Dec. 1, and a lockout is widely expected.<\/p>\n Where can you watch the Angels? Angels star Mike Trout celebrates after hitting a solo home run against the Houston Astros on Sept. 28 in Anaheim.<\/p>\n (Wally Skalij \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n The Angels already are in spring training, and yet their fans have no idea where to watch their games on television this season.<\/p>\n The Angels have agreed that MLB will provide a streaming option, and a team official confirmed they are still deciding whether to let MLB sell their telecasts to cable and satellite distributors or reinvent what remains of the FanDuel Sports channel already part-owned by the team, with the Kings joining the Angels.<\/p>\n The Angels\u2019 situation is not unique. Three years ago, MLB did not provide broadcast services to any team. Today, amid the collapse of the cable and satellite universe, MLB provides broadcast services to 14 of its 30 teams \u2014 15, if the Angels go that way.<\/p>\n In 2028, Manfred would like to sell national streaming packages, in the hope that more bidders would mean more revenue, a particularly acute need for the teams losing revenue as guaranteed rights fees are cut or eliminated altogether. The challenge: how to convince the Dodgers and other big-market teams to sacrifice their still-lucrative local rights<\/a> so MLB can sell a 30-team package.<\/p>\n \u201cIdeally, I\u2019d love to get there,\u201d Manfred said. \u201cI don\u2019t need to get all the way there to accomplish most of what I am thinking about.\u201d<\/p>\n On Thursday, Manfred cited one way he could get close enough: have rival owners vote to expand the number of games \u2014 for the Dodgers or anyone else \u2014 that would be classified as national rather than local.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can take as many games as we want from any club in a national package,\u201d Manfred said, \u201cwith a majority vote of the clubs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PALM BEACH, Fla.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0As Major League Baseball closes in on an agreement for its players to participate in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[6546,291,5,74936,74938,74937,1593,1234,4,33781,8186,3181,348,6272,32206],"class_list":["post-568781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-all-star-game","tag-angels","tag-baseball","tag-dream-team","tag-ghislaine-maxwell","tag-jeffrey-epstein","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-manfred","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-owner","tag-olympics","tag-player","tag-statement","tag-thursday","tag-wasserman"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116059429754058337","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Outfielder](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770926249_736_.jpeg\")
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