Manfred: MLB still 6-10 years away from expansion

Not long after taking over as commissioner of Major League Baseball roughly 14 months ago, Rob Manfred said he was "open to the idea" of expansion, and even cited non-U.S. markets like Mexico City and Montreal as potential options should the league grow to 32 teams.

Last week, however, as he sat behind home plate at Estadio Fray Nano in the Mexican capital, Manfred said in an exclusive interview with Bryce Miller of the San Diego Union-Tribune that the league isn't close to adding any more teams, with expansion possibly as far as a decade away.

"It's a long timeline, years really," Manfred said. "I'd say between six and 10. I don't see it as a first-term issue for me, how about putting it that way."

Manfred, who has a little less than four years remaining in his first term as commissioner, noted that the league is "at the beginning of consideration of getting to 32" teams, though, and dismissed the notion that Mexico isn't a viable possibility, either economically or logistically.

"Obviously, the income base here is different than the existing Major League cities. But things like that are surmountable when you think about the potential, for example, in respect to broadcasting," Manfred said. "The idea that your television territory would be the country of Mexico (population roughly 125 million), you might not have the same gate revenue, but you probably have a pretty good broadcast deal."