Major League Baseball's clubs voted on Thursday to extend the contract of Commissioner Rob Manfred through the 2024 regular season.
Cardinals chairman and CEO Bill DeWitt, who chairs the league's finance committee, made the announcement at the conclusion of the Owners Meetings in Atlanta.
Manfred was elected Commissioner in August 2014, taking over from Bud Selig in January 2015. He had previously served as the league's chief operating officer beginning in 2013. A graduate of Cornell University and Harvard Law School, Manfred joined MLB full-time in 1998, serving as an executive vice president overseeing labor relations, economics and league affairs.
"Every single day has really been a great experience for me," Manfred said at a news conference in Atlanta. "People overestimate the difficulties -- I'm not saying there aren't difficulties -- but the great parts of this job really outweigh whatever friction you may have on a particular day. The opportunity to be associated with the greatest game in the world outweighs all of that from my perspective."
Under Manfred's watch as Commissioner, MLB agreed to a new five-year collective bargaining agreement with the MLB Players Association through 2021, continuing the sport's run of labor peace to 26 years.
Manfred has stated a number of goals during his term, including the expansion of youth participation, international growth, improved pace of play, the infusion of technology into the game, increased marketing of the game's young stars and furthering the game's diversity. He also began MLB's signature youth participation program, PLAY BALL, a partnership with USA Baseball and USA Softball.
In 2016, MLB returned to Cuba for the first time in 17 years when the Tampa Bay Rays played an exhibition game against the Cuban National Team, a game jointly attended by President Barack Obama and Cuban president Raul Castro.
After playing regular-season games in Puerto Rico and Mexico this past season, MLB will host a series between the Yankees and Red Sox in London next June, marking the first games ever played in Europe.