Chuck Todd is a giant in the world of political news, but also was one of the founders of the Sports Business Journal back in 1994. He is a passionate baseball fan, and loves to talk about baseball. As a former moderator of Meet The Press on NBC and the host of MTP Daily on MSNBC, that is where Todd is most popularly known. And his work continues on his “The Chuck ToddCast” and other appearances to talk politics like on Sunday on the Noosphere.
We were fortunate that Chuck Todd came on the TalkNats Podcast in two parts to cover a variety of topics from the shuttering of the Washington Post sports section, to his fandom in the Washington Nationals, and a simple solution to fix baseball in the CBA.
What about trying James Wood at first base was one of Todd’s suggestions? We have written about this a few times, and more in-depth before the offseason officially opened last year. It is nice to hear when someone thinks outside-the-box and does exactly what we do here on a daily basis and intelligently about making the Washington Nationals into a better team!
“But getting more creative into the future, what if Paul Toboni asks James Wood to get a first baseman’s glove? A 6’7 guy with a glove would give a big target for his infielders. Yes, yes, we know that first base isn’t easy. First base is a hole in the team. Ethan Petry had been getting some reps there already [in Single-A]. No telling what the future holds in Toboni’s eyes. The heir apparent to first base was Yohandy Morales, and the one-time first round talent who was picked by the Nats in the second round of 2023, had his struggles in the previous developmental system.”
— TalkNats article from Oct. 27, 2025
Todd went on to say that he is “nervously excited” about Dylan Crews which is probably how many Nats fans feel. That might be a better descriptor than being “cautiously optimistic.” As we wrote the other day, even Crews has changed his tone. He went from answering how he approaches the game before as, “I view every day as pressure is a privilege” to now saying, “I view every day as an opportunity.” Yes, Crews has to prove himself. He knows that his 2025 results won’t cut it. And his manager, Blake Butera, fairly has said this for all of the returning players, that “the slate is clean.” Crews isn’t the only one who will get a fresh start.
Offline near the trade deadline, Chuck and I were discussing that it didn’t feel like the right time to trade MacKenzie Gore unless the there was a huge overpay. Now with Gore officially traded last month, Todd gave some good thoughts on what he thought. Interestingly enough, the OOPSY FanGraphs prospect ranking model that uses actual minor league stats, loves the trade and has three of the five prospects acquired in the Gore trade in their Top-100 — but not Gavin Fien because his small minor league sample wasn’t great. Look at Alejandro Rosario ranked at No. 24, Yeremy Cabrera at No. 53, and Devin Fitz-Gerald at No. 96.
By the way, if you are counting, that is EIGHT prospects in the Top-100 and RHP Travis Sykora at No. 8 overall. That has to get Toboni smiling. The Gore trade certainly restocked the Nats farm system. While development takes time, Todd said that he didn’t want to see any of those veteran signings that would block the youngsters from playing. He mentioned Dominic Smith and Nathaniel Lowe as those “types” of players. Now that was the only thing that I would slightly disagree with Chuck on. For me, the Ryan Zimmerman suggestion in October that the team needed a veteran leader on a 2-to-4 year deal made a lot of sense. But Todd made a good point that Tampa has been successful without those types of players.
In Part 1 of the Podcast, Todd talked about how he was raised as a Dodgers fan as he didn’t grow up in the DC area. But his fandom changed to the Washington Nationals along with his love of the game with his son. Chuck now refers to the Dodgers as the “evil empire” and is nervous that the Dodgers next big acquisition could be Tarik Skubal.
And Todd tells us how he would solve the next CBA. Yes, a salary cap is needed with revenue sharing from the Dodgers and Yankees is Todd’s solution. I think that is a broader sharing. If there is a salary cap, the Dodgers can’t sign every player, and even their revenue might come down some. If you create an NFL system of revenue sharing, it gives all teams the same TV revenue be it for national broadcasts as well as local broadcasts. That is where MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred wants to go by the start of the 2029 season. Let’s digress for a moment to make this a larger discussion.
Key Discussion Points on a CBA:
- National Revenue (Shared Equally): The vast majority of NFL revenue comes from league-wide media rights (games, streaming) on all levels of broadcasting games on television. As of 2024-2025, each team receives an equal, massive portion of this, which exceeded
$432 million per team in 2025. Obviously baseball wouldn’t get anywhere close to that number at this time. The NFL is the behemoth so what agent Scott Boras discussed was at least surpassing what the NBA does.
- Ticket Revenue Sharing: While teams keep the majority of their home ticket sales, about the NFL shares 40 percent of gross ticket sales that are placed into a pool and shared among all teams.
- Local Revenue (Retained by Teams): In the NFL, revenue from luxury suites, concessions, parking, and stadium sponsorship remains with the individual teams. This is where the Cowboys do so well in football, and you would expect the Dodgers and Yankees to continue to lead in this.
- Player-Owner Split: Under the NFL current collective bargaining agreement, revenue is split, with owners receiving 52 percent and players receiving 48 percent. This would probably be a part of
- Salary Cap: The NFL has a hard salary cap for players. This is what MLB would like to see also. This will be the sticky point for sure in negotiations. Give enough concessions to where the players see the same or more money overall, and you wonder why they would have an issue with this.
While Chuck Todd discussed that having a dominant team in baseball makes it a lot more exciting than the 2015 World Series of the Kansas City Royals and the Mets, or the years the Giants were making the World Series, it is really about giving more teams a chance. The Kansas City Chiefs for many years were very popular as a football team. Baseball needs to raise hope among all teams. And there isn’t enough of that with the Dodgers and Mets seemingly buying all of the top players. By the way, they are playing within the rules. So change the rules!
“A lack of a salary cap in the [MLB] has also hurt the bottom line. The NBA, NFL and NHL, all of which have salary caps, boast margins for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, of about 20%. In contrast, MLB, which does not have a salary cap, has an EBITDA margin of 5%, according to CNBC’s calculations.”
— Mike Ozanian wrote in CNBC
While you might say, baseball is healthy overall, it is by average. A 5 percent EBITDA income in MLB isn’t good because again, that is an average. The current crash of several of the regional sports networks has created a divide between the wealthy and poor teams on an annual profit/loss basis. Yes, teams are growing or staying steady in their valuations, but the NBA is far surpassing MLB in values, and in DC, Sportico has the Commanders, Wizards, and Capitals all valued higher than the Nationals. You can’t play in venues twice as larger with twice as many games and be worth half as much as the local NBA team. That’s a problem.
Again, thank you to Mr. Chuck Todd for appearing on the Podcast and being a friend and supporter of what we do here!
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