Advance, Cornell ILR School's publication for alumni and friends.
Issue link: https://advance.epubxp.com/i/362921
2 Gary Bettman '74 and Robert Manfred '80 have parlayed their Ives Hall studies into careers at the highest echelons of sports management. Bettman, frst commissioner of the National Hockey League (NHL), was elected to the position in 1993, following 12 years with the National Basketball Association (NBA). Ever since, he has worked to "move the league forward in progressive ways to ensure that there is com- petitive balance, that the game is as entertaining as possible, and that the business of the game best serves a growing fan base." Manfred was named chief operat- ing offcer of Major League Baseball (MLB) last September, making him second in command to Commissioner Bud Selig, who has announced he will retire in 2015. For both Manfred and Bettman, entrée to professional sports came through labor relations, and skills honed at ILR. "The single biggest skill I gained at ILR is the ability to negotiate," says Manfred. He practiced labor and employment law before joining MLB in 1998 as executive vice president of labor relations and human resources. "I have been an effective negotiator because I was well trained in how to get ready to bargain — not only collectively bargain, but negotiate generally," he says. "And I am very rigorous to this day, about that kind of preparation." Those skills helped Manfred effect culture change early in his tenure at MLB. "Previously, the clubs viewed each contract negotiation as an opportunity to solve all their prob- lems," he says. "My goal was to impart to the clubs that collective bargaining is an incremental pro- cess, and that the way you reform your economics is by putting bricks in place in each negoti- ation over a period of time." "Commissioner Selig convinced the owners that this was the right ap- proach. Since then, we've been able to deliver signif- cant economic change con- tract by contract, without the labor disruptions we'd had in the past."