Rob Manfred addressed a reporter's question about whether the Rangers holding out against Pride factored into his decision to award them an All Star Game. | Kim Klement Neitzel-USA TODAY Sports

Because Major League Baseball doesn’t have a neutral site postseason, the All-Star Game is the most prominent event it can award a host city.

So when MLB decided that Texas was going to host the 2024 All Star Game, it was fair for LGBTQ fans and allies to wonder whether they took the Rangers’ status as the lone holdout against Pride Nights into consideration.

During last week’s All-Star festivities, Washington Post reporter Chelsea Janes asked MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred if he considered their stance against scheduling Pride Night when granting the game to the Rangers.

Manfred tried to talk his way through it and, in the process, revealed a telling detail about his priorities as a leader as well as those of the MLB owners he represents.

“Look, there are a whole lot of factors that go into deciding who’s going to get an All-Star Game. I don’t view whether you hold a Pride Night or not as an outcome-determinant issue,” Manfred admitted. “It’s an issue. We look at all those issues and try to make a decision and give it to the place that we think is going to be the best.”

The first part of his answer was about what you’d expect from a commissioner who has to keep 30 owners (including the Rangers’ Ray Davis) happy with his performance in order to retain his job.

There might be one way for baseball to make the Rangers’ refusal to hold a Pride night an outcome-determinant issue. But owners probably aren’t going to promote Liam Hendriks to commissioner anytime soon. Even if his news conferences would be amazing.

Then the second part of Manfred’s answer was where we heard the real truth.

“And it’s really important here to remember there’s a massive public investment in terms of creating a great new facility. And honestly, that’s an important consideration in terms of awarding All-Star Games,” he said.

Ever since the era of Manfred’s predecessor Bud Selig, MLB has frequently used the All-Star Game as a carrot to convince big league cities to contribute massive public financing toward the construction of new ballparks. 

In 2016, the city of Arlington announced they would spend more than $500 million in public money to help build Globe Life Field. Then in 2022, Manfred announced that the 2024 All Star Game would be played in that very facility.

This was not a coincidence.

Globe Life Field cost approximately $1.2 billion to build and over $500 million came from public money.
Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

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As he admitted, it was essentially the reason the Rangers hosted the All-Star Game. Every league does this, which is how the Super Bowl has ended up in places like Minneapolis.

And part of Manfred’s job was to talk his way around inconvenient issues that arose from that decision —such as how a Rangers All-Star Game might look to the LGBTQ community.

Basically, if we wanted Pride Nights to be an outcome-determinant consideration for MLB, Team LGBTQ would have to build a new $2 billion stadium to host them.

Manfred’s quote was especially disappointing because his recent statements to Outsports about LGBTQ inclusion in MLB was much more thought out and empathetic.

“A player’s decision to come out publicly (or not) is an incredibly personal decision,” he said, “Every player is part of a supportive environment that focuses on their off-field development and well being as citizens as well as their development as players. We would never influence a player to make any type of personal decision in a public platform, but we will continue to support our players in every way possible.”

For now, it’s clear Manfred supports gay baseball players and supports Pride Nights. And he really, really supports building big new stadiums.