Evan Kaplan on MLB Player Branding and Sports Innovation
How do baseball players turn name, image, and likeness into lasting value?
Nick Elam talks with Evan Kaplan, President of MLB Players, Inc., about the commercial side of baseball, from licensing and sponsorships to trading cards, jerseys, video games, social media, and player brand opportunities.
Kaplan explains how MLB Players, Inc. supports active players, minor leaguers, and retired players while helping brands connect with players in ways that build fan engagement.
We also take a look at our newest fan-submitted innovation: should every type of play in sports be reviewable through a coach’s challenge? Nick weighs the promise and the problems of expanding replay review, including subjective calls, default rulings, and a possible neutral review panel.
The Season 1 finale closes with a “next to last” look at Breaking Bad’s Granite State and why the episode still works.
What You'll Learn:
How MLB Players, Inc. helps players create off-field value
Why social media has changed baseball player marketability
What happens when limited opportunities like MLB The Show covers are available
Why expanded replay review is harder than it sounds
How fan-submitted innovations become part of Sports Rule Pod
Timestamps and Chapters:
00:00 Season 1 finale begins
01:15 Evan Kaplan joins the show
02:40 What MLB Players, Inc. does
05:35 Licensing, NIL, and player value
08:50 Active players and alumni
12:15 Social media and marketability
15:05 MLB The Show and limited deals
17:35 Kaplan’s career journey
20:30 The chase of player licensing
22:45 Should every play be reviewable?
26:35 A neutral replay review idea
29:10 Breaking Bad’s Granite State
32:00 Season 2 and final CTA
About Our Guest:
Evan Kaplan is the President of MLB Players, Inc., the commercial arm of the Major League Baseball Players Association. His work focuses on player licensing, sponsorships, brand opportunities, fan engagement, and commercial partnerships for active, minor league, and retired baseball players.
Frameworks or Strategies Discussed:
MLB Players, Inc. group licensing: The commercial model that allows brands to use the name, image, and likeness of groups of MLB players.
Player NIL and brand development: The process of helping players build commercial value through licensing, endorsements, products, social media, and fan engagement.
Innovation segment: Sports Rule Pod’s recurring segment where Nick Elam evaluates sports rule changes, fan-submitted innovations, and ideas at different stages of implementation.
Coach’s challenge replay review: The episode’s featured rule-change idea, focused on whether every type of play should be reviewable in sports.
Neutral three-person review panel: Nick’s proposed alternative for replay review, designed to reduce the influence of default rulings and high overturn standards.
Next to last segment: Sports Rule Pod’s recurring storytelling segment about the moment before the famous moment, used here to revisit Breaking Bad’s Granite State.
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