By Drew Schott
Kenesaw Mountain Landis served as the first commissioner of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1920 to 1944. During his leadership of MLB, Landis exercised extreme authority over the professional baseball league, including his power to act in the best interests of baseball to justify lifetime bans for the players involved in the 1919 Black Sox Scandal.
Today, commissioners of professional sports leagues hold significant influence within their sports. Yet, they are not able to exercise their power to the extent of Landis for multiple reasons. First, the powers of certain commissioners have been affected by developments in antitrust law that impact their sports. Meanwhile, professional baseball has held an antitrust exemption since 1922. Second, the formation of players’ unions and the application of federal labor laws to professional sports have given players increased rights and the ability to collectively bargain with team owners and commissioners, who can no longer unilaterally impose employment terms and conditions on players. Third, the rise of television’s financial influence in professional sports has created additional responsibilities for the role of a commissioner: negotiating large television contracts with networks and generating revenue to help increase the value of franchises and the overall league.
This evolution was one of the topics discussed during a panel entitled, “The Future of the Commissioner’s Authority in Professional Sports,” at the Sports Lawyers Association Annual Conference in Chicago on May 14. The panel featured Bill Daly, the Deputy Commissioner of the National Hockey League (NHL), Jeffrey Mishkin – a Mediator and Arbitrator with Phillips ADR Enterprises who previously served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of the National Basketball Association (NBA) – and Daniel Nash, a Shareholder at law firm Littler Mendelson P.C. and outside counsel for the National Football League (NFL) Management Counsel. Margaret Carlyle, the Chief Legal Officer of the Detroit Lions, moderated the conversation.
The panel shared that while commissioners’ power to act in the best interests of their sports has changed since Landis exercised it in relation to the Black Sox Scandal, it still remains because the authority of commissioners is derived from the agreements, bylaws and constitutions of leagues. While collective bargaining agreements (CBA) have added procedural limitations to commissioners’ power in this area, including hearing rights afforded to players, commissioners still have the ability to protect their sports through reviewing and punishing conduct found to be detrimental to their league.
This power allows the commissioner to act as an investigator into issues that may violate the integrity of their sport and make decisions regarding disciplinary measures. For example, Article 46 of the NFL’s CBA enables the NFL commissioner to serve as both an appellate judge and disciplinarian regarding conduct detrimental to the league, which has been applied historically to conduct both on and off the field. Previously, detrimental conduct was largely linked to cheating and gambling scandals, but has applied recently to activities including the actions of players, owners and team and league personnel.
Commissioners of professional sports leagues also address matters relating to ownership issues and potential relocation of franchises. Despite NHL commissioner Gary Bettman seeking to keep the Arizona Coyotes in the Phoenix metropolitan area, then-Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo failing to find a long-term stadium solution eventually led Bettman to support the team’s relocation to Salt Lake City, Utah, where it currently competes as the Utah Mammoth. Since Bettman’s powers do not contain the blanket authority to solely move an active franchise, it was necessary for him to meet with stakeholders involved with both the Coyotes and the NHL Board of Governors among other entities to help finalize and gain approval for the Coyotes’ move in 2024.
Meanwhile, following the release of audio recordings in 2014 in which then-Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling made racist statements, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver banned Sterling from the league for life, fined him $2.5 million and sought to have Sterling sell the team. The panel discussed how Silver did not have the authority to force a sale of an NBA franchise, which was held by the NBA Board of Governors. Additionally, he needed to find specific language in the NBA’s Constitution and By-Laws to justify a lifetime ban, since that power was not expressly stated in the documents. Eventually, the Clippers were sold to current owner Steve Ballmer in 2014.
According to the panelists, commissioners of professional sports leagues have three main constituencies: team owners, players and fans. They added that commissioners understand the interests of the aforementioned constituents and ownership matters, as well as work as much as they can within league bylaws and constitutions to demonstrate that their actions are being done to serve the integrity of their sports. Overall, the panel found that commissioners taking actions to ensure the best interests of their sports involve a strong understanding of the sport, recognition that their decisions will not always receive unanimous approval and good judgment.
Events, The Future of the Commissioner’s Authority in Professional Sports, (May 14, 2026), https://www.sportslaw.org/conferences/2026conf/agenda/index.cfm.
Drew Schott is a J.D. Candidate at Tulane University Law School. He was a Staff Writer for The Sports Lawyer Monthly during the 2025-26 academic year.
