Josh Schaub, is the Commissioner of the American Association of Professional Baseball, arguably the most successful of affiliated baseball leagues. He's also a sports lawyer, entrepreneur and adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School.
Schaub joined SportsJam with Doug Doyle to talk about the expansion of his league and his unique career. Schaub says his desire to be involved in sports administration began at an early age.
"My dad was very involved in amateur athletics. He officiated eight different sports at the high school and college level. He was the commissioner of two high school leagues. So very early on, I would travel with my dad and watch sport administration during state track meets, state high school baseball tournaments and state high school volleyball tournaments. We would travel these little towns in northern Wisconsin. I knew right then I wanted to work in sports. Even before I knew I wanted to be a lawyer, I wanted to work in sports. When I want to undergrad, I started taking constitutional law and realized I loved the law."
Within Sports Law, Schaub works with major, minor, and collegiate leagues and teams all over the world that are seeking ways to operate more efficiently and effectively, increase league revenue and team valuations, and ultimately, grow through high-level legal counsel.
Before his current gig, he was Commissioner of the Major Arena Soccer League. He is also the co-founder of Da Beauty League, former CEO/Co-Owner of the Joliet Slammers, and Associate Scout at the Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club.
"While I was in law school I met Clark Griffith, the Commissioner of the Northern League and started working for him. I started to understand what that position really was in the early 2000's. As time marched on, having the combination of legal skill, business background and experience and having a passion for baseball, those all melded well together for me."
Schaub says the partnership with MLB has created so many new opportunities for growth and expansion in the American Association of Professional Baseball. The league was founded in 2005 and operates in the central United States and Canada, mostly in cities not served by Major League Baseball teams or their minor league affiliates.
"The big change happened in 2019 and 2020 when we were no longer deemed independent. We came under the Major League auspice under Commissioner Rob Manfred's theory that the four top of what was known as independent leagues came under the umbrella of MLB. That means that we share marketing tactics and assets with MLB to help promote the game. Rob Manfred's theory is "more baseball is better."
What's the most challenging part of Schaub's job as commissioner?
"Growth and expansion is really difficult. Building stadiums is hard. If you look at our geographic footprint, you have affiliated baseball, you have partnered league baseball and the markets that can sustain professional baseball have kind of been taken up, for the most part with exceptions."
Josh earned his J.D. from the William Mitchell College of Law, where he was Co-Chair of the Sports and Entertainment Law Society. Previously, he received his Bachelor of Science in Exercise and Sports Science with an emphasis in Sports Management from the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse.
He admits AI and sports betting are here to stay in professional baseball.
"Tech is a critical part of what we do as a business. We try to integrate as much as possible. What we don't like is being on the bleeding edge of tech. We like adopting tech that is beneficial for us now with a little less risk. Sports betting is going to be out there. It's not appropriate for the American Association at this time, but it is going to be a part of our industry for a long time to come. AI, we want to integrate on the player data side, telling us how players are going to perform, but most importantly the fan side. We're trying to appeal to fans and learn what they want, how they want it and when they want it. AI can deliver that to us."
The American Association has several players currently in the Majors. The most famous would be pitcher Max Scherzer. Scherzer is part of the World Series champs Texas Rangers. The 39-year old future Hall-of-Famer who spent some time with the Mets is expected to return from surgery to repair a herniated disk possible in late May. Max played for Fort Worth in 2007.
You can SEE the entire SportsJam interview with Josh Schaub here.
