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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Got a rule change you want to see implemented? Tell us about it here, and vote on other suggested rule changes:⁠ https://www.podpage.com/sports-rule-pod-with-nick-elam/suggest-a-rule-change/⁠

The NCAA Tournament is expanding to 76 teams, but does that actually make March Madness better?

Nick Elam breaks down the new men’s and women’s tournament format, the added opening round games, and why this may be a solution in search of a problem. The episode also features Kristen Dozier-Williams, regional club leader for League One Volleyball, on LOVB’s youth-to-pro volleyball ecosystem, sports career journeys, entrepreneurship, mentorship, and the leap from corporate consulting into a growing sports startup.

You’ll also hear a next to last segment on the 2019 Wimbledon men’s final between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, one of the most memorable matches from tennis’ Big 3 era.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why NCAA Tournament expansion may not improve championship legitimacy

• How LOVB is building a connected youth and pro volleyball ecosystem

• What Kristen Dozier-Williams learned from entrepreneurship and career risk

• Why rally scoring, the libero, and golden sets changed volleyball’s fan experience

• How the 2019 Wimbledon final became a defining Big 3 tennis moment

Episode Highlights:

• 00:00 Introduction and episode preview

• 03:10 Kristen Dozier-Williams joins

• 06:15 LOVB’s volleyball ecosystem

• 12:40 Building youth volleyball clubs

• 18:30 Career risk and joining LOVB

• 26:20 Lessons from pro volleyball

• 34:10 Volleyball innovations

• 41:30 NCAA Tournament expansion

• 53:00 2019 Wimbledon final

Guest:

Kristen Dozier-Williams is the regional club leader for League One Volleyball, also known as LOVB. She brings experience as a former professional volleyball player, entrepreneur, consultant, and leader in youth volleyball development.

Tools, Frameworks, or Strategies Mentioned:

• Innovation segment: A recurring Sports Rule Pod segment where Nick evaluates sports rule changes, formats, and new ideas at different stages of implementation.

• Good idea scale: Nick’s rating framework for judging whether a sports innovation is practical, valuable, and worth adopting.

• LOVB volleyball ecosystem: League One Volleyball’s connected model spanning youth clubs, families, coaches, and the professional league.

• Rally scoring: A volleyball scoring format where a point is awarded on every rally, making the game faster and easier to follow.

• Libero: A defensive volleyball position that changed team strategy by giving one player a specialized back-row role.

• Golden set: A winner-takes-all volleyball format used to create a faster, higher-stakes deciding moment.

• Next to last segment: A recurring Sports Rule Pod segment that revisits the overlooked moment before a major sports ending.

• Choose-your-own-adventure bracket format: Nick’s proposed NCAA Tournament placement idea

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SportsRulePod

Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.podpage.com/sports-rule-pod-with-nick-elam/

Got a rule change you want to see implemented? Tell us about it here, and vote on other suggested rule changes: https://www.podpage.com/sports-rule-pod-with-nick-elam/suggest-a-rule-change/

College basketball and the NBA are both facing format questions that could reshape how fans experience the game.

Nick Elam talks with ESPN analyst and longtime college basketball coach Seth Greenberg about preparation, mentorship, leadership, NCAA Tournament expansion, player compensation, transfer rules, and the lessons that last beyond wins and losses. Greenberg also shares what he learned from coaching stops at Virginia Tech, South Florida, Long Beach State, and beyond.

The innovation segment scrutinizes the NBA’s proposed three two one draft lottery system, a reform aimed at reducing tanking while protecting competitive integrity. Then the next to last segment revisits the 2026 World Baseball Classic semifinal between the United States and the Dominican Republic, a game Nick argues belongs in the conversation as one of baseball’s greatest spectacles.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why NCAA Tournament expansion is likely tied to mega conference pressure

• How Seth Greenberg prepares for live ESPN college basketball coverage

• What coaching teaches about trust, habits, roles, and leadership

• Why the three two one lottery may shift tanking instead of solving it

• How the 2026 World Baseball Classic showed baseball at its most electric

Episode Highlights:

• 00:00 Episode preview

• 03:20 Seth Greenberg joins

• 06:45 ESPN preparation habits

• 13:30 Mentors and media lessons

• 20:15 Coaching identity and trust

• 31:40 Recruiting and program building

• 42:30 College basketball changes

• 50:10 NBA three two one lottery

• 01:02:30 World Baseball Classic classic

Guest:

Seth Greenberg is an ESPN college basketball analyst and former head coach at Virginia Tech, South Florida, and Long Beach State. He brings decades of coaching, leadership, recruiting, and media experience to a conversation about where basketball is heading.

Tools, Frameworks, or Strategies Mentioned:

• Three two one draft lottery system: A proposed NBA draft lottery reform that assigns teams three, two, one, or zero lottery entries based on standings and postseason position.

• Good idea scale: Nick’s recurring evaluation lens for judging whether a sports innovation is practical, effective, and worth adopting.

• Cola Draft Mechanism: A draft reform proposal discussed in a previous Sports Rule Pod episode as an alternative way to reduce tanking incentives.

• Fight, flee, or flow: Seth Greenberg’s way of describing how coaches can respond to major changes in college basketball.

• Next play: A coaching principle Greenberg used to help players respond quickly to mistakes, adversity, and pressure.

• Investment equals expectation: Greenberg’s leadership phrase for connecting resources, preparation, and results.

• Next to last segment: A recurring Sports Rule Pod segment that revisits the overlooked moment before a major sports ending or milestone.

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SportsRulePod

Subscribe to our newsletter: https://www.podpage.com/sports-rule-pod-with-nick-elam/

Got a rule change you want to see implemented? Tell us about it here, and vote on other suggested rule changes: https://www.podpage.com/sports-rule-pod-with-nick-elam/suggest-a-rule-change/