Baseball
Exclusive Interview: Commissioner Josh Schaub
Blue Wahoos owner Quint Studer has purchased the Kansas City Monarchs of the American Association of Professional Baseball—and the league commissioner says Studer’s name has been near the top of his wish list since day one.
When American Association of Professional Baseball Commissioner Josh Schaub became commissioner in 2019, one of his first calls was to Marv Goldklang, then-owner of the St. Paul Saints, asking: Who are the best operators in affiliated minor league baseball?
Quint Studer’s name kept coming up.
“Quint stays near the top of that list, if not at the top of that list,” Schaub told Inweekly this week. “That speaks to how much respect he has in the industry—not only from Marv, but from all kinds of other owners and even MLB executives—about Quint as a person and an owner and what he can do in Kansas City to really turn it up a notch there.”
Studer, who built the Pensacola Blue Wahoos into one of the premier franchises in affiliated minor league baseball after starting in independent ball with the Pensacola Pelicans—themselves once part of the American Association—has now come full circle. He was introduced to Kansas City fans and media this week as the new owner of the Monarchs.
Not “Independent”—and Not “Minor”
Schaub was quick to correct a common misconception about the league Studer is joining.
The American Association shed the word “independent” from its name in 2021. The full former name—American Association of Independent League Baseball—gave way to the American Association of Professional Baseball after Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred approached Schaub in early 2020 about a formal partnership.
- “We’re an MLB partner league now,” Schaub said. “We get all their toolkits—Lou Gehrig Day, Jackie Robinson Day, women in baseball, all of that. We’re invited to winter meetings, to business meetings. We have a working relationship with Major League Baseball.”
“The best part is we remain autonomous. We make our own rules. We do our own thing. We have not lost the DNA of what it was to be independent.”
—Commissioner Josh Schaub
Schaub also pushed back on another piece of terminology. The American Association does not consider itself minor league baseball.
- “Minor league baseball is minor to major leagues,” he said. “We are an autonomous professional baseball league. We just refer to ourselves as professional baseball.”
Playing to Win
What sets the American Association apart on the field, Schaub argues, is competitive urgency. Unlike affiliated ball—where players follow organizational development instructions and may be told exactly what pitch sequences to work on regardless of the game situation—American Association players are competing for their livelihoods.
- “Our guys are there to win because if they don’t win, they get released,” Schaub said. “We play to win in the American Association.”
The talent level backs that up. Schaub said that in a 2024 roster snapshot, 68% of American Association players had played at Double-A or above, and 30 players had Major League Baseball experience—a number he expects to be higher when 2026 rosters are finalized.
The league’s international competition results offer perhaps the starkest measure of its quality. The American Association now competes internationally—something no other MLB partner league or affiliated minor league organization has done—and its champions have defeated the Mexican League champion two out of the last three years in the Baseball Champions League.
- “Just think about the talent level it takes to beat the Mexico City Diablos, who are riddled with ex-big leaguers,” Schaub said. “We’ve done it two out of three years.”
American Association by the Numbers
- 12 teams and growing
- 68% of 2024 players had Double-A or higher experience
- 30 players had MLB experience in 2024
- Revenue up 35% since COVID
- Broadcast viewership grew from 90,000 to 10 million; projected 18 million in 2026
- Two of the last three Baseball Champions League titles over Mexican League champion
A League on the Rise
The American Association’s growth trajectory has accelerated sharply in recent years. Broadcast viewership has exploded from 90,000 viewers to 10 million last year, with Schaub projecting 18 million viewers in 2026. Revenue is up 35% since the pandemic.
- Ballpark-anchored development projects are a central part of the league’s expansion strategy. A three-quarter-billion-dollar development in Blaine, Minnesota, will include an American Association stadium at its core. A comparable project has already been built in Milwaukee. Schaub said four additional development projects are in the pipeline, with the league’s name not yet publicly attached to them.
“Our fans are being entertained not only by what happens in the stadium, but by what happens outside the stadium,” Schaub said.