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“There’s certainly other cities in Canada that would be viable expansion candidates,” Manfred said. National television contracts MLB’s contracts remain in the legal drafting phase with Comcast’s NBCUniversal for the Wild Card Series and Sunday night regular-season games, with Netflix for the All-Star Home Run Derby, and with The Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN for a regular-season package plus in-market rights for Arizona, Cleveland, Colorado, Minnesota and San Diego. “We have agreements. We’re just working on long forms and as I have learned over the years, long-form broadcasting agreements take a long time to get done,” Manfred said. Rays returning to Tropicana Field Tampa Bay played home games this year at the New York Yankees’ spring training home, Steinbrenner Field, following damage to Tropicana Field caused by Hurricane Milton. Repairs are ongoing, and the Rays play their home opener on April 6 after starting with a nine-game trip. “We’re hopeful that it will be ready for the opening home set,” Manfred said. “It’s certainly going to be open very early in the year.” Ohtani’s impact on increasing international attention for baseball Shohei Ohtani has helped the Dodgers reach the World Series in consecutive years, sparking record viewership in Japan. “Shohei, it just absolutely has been the greatest benefit to the game that you can imagine throughout the year. In the LCS he had probably the greatest game of all time and we’re fortunate to have him here in the World Series,” Manfred said.
