MLB admits they will have to pay a premium for players to come to UK

MLB has previously held games in Japan, Australia and Mexico, while last week saw the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers visit a sold-out Estadio de Beisbol in Monterrey

The MLB is heading towards the UK (Getty)

Major League Baseball is coming to Europe for the first time in 2019, with MLB confirming this week that the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees will meet at the London Stadium in late June next year.

The driving force behind the games is Robert D. Manfred, who became Commissioner of MLB in 2015. Expanding the game’s horizons on a global level has been a key goal since Manfred’s appointment, and he feels London is the “ideal place” to begin in Europe.

“First and foremost, there is great sporting tradition in London. The London Stadium is an outstanding facility that can be converted into a first-class baseball facility with relative ease.”

MLB has previously held games in Japan, Australia and Mexico. Last week saw the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers visit a sold-out Estadio de Beisbol in Monterrey and Manfred hope to replicate such success in London next year.

Estadio de Beisbol staged a match recently (Getty)

“At the All-Star Game and other international games we have held fan-fest style activities. These are interactive and designed for younger people. It will give fans an opportunity to engage with the game even if they are not going to the stadium.”

No venues have yet been arranged for festivities surrounding the game. The NFL and NBA have been successful previously at bringing events of this ilk to London, with the former running an award-winning NFL on Regent Street event annually to advertise and grow the game.

The MLB Players’ Association’s Chief of Business Affairs Tim Slavin confirmed that his organisation had liaised with other American leagues on how best to utilise such events: “We’ve spoken to the players’ unions of other leagues about their experiences and how we can make the experience as rich as possible given the short length of time.

“I can imagine we will have events and opportunities: touring events, shopping restaurants, that type of thing.”

The players are keen to come. These fixtures would not have been organised otherwise. Negotiations occurred between the league and the Players’ Association, with players voting in favour of holding games in London. MLB has already committed to having games in London in 2020 with a view to expanding both in terms of frequency and location in the future.

While there are financial incentives for both players and franchises for coming, Slavin spoke of an enthusiasm from all to grow the game of baseball worldwide.

Boston Red Sox will touch down in London next year (Getty)

“The players want fans to enjoy the experience. They love this game and have been playing it all their lives. If there are more fans interested in the game they might play and want to try and become a Major Leaguer, which would be great and a huge a success.

“London is a world-class city – it speaks for itself. I think the players know a lot about the culture, the warmth and the hospitality. They know it is a lot of fun to come here and visit,” continued Slavin. “I imagine, in fact, they would want to bring their families and spend time here.

“Unfortunately the season is long and there is only a short opportunity for visiting here, but I’ll imagine they’ll walk away feeling very impressed.”

Baseball is extremely popular in parts of the Americas and the Latin Caribbean, including the Dominican Republic and Venezuela particularly. It is also popular in East Asia, and will make its return to the Olympics at Tokyo 2020.

Baseball will be making an appearance at Tokyo 2020 (Getty)

But Commissioner Manfred has desires on greater appeal all around the world, and introducing talent from target areas to MLB has proven in other sports to successfully increase interest.

The NFL’s International Player Pathway expanded this year with eight foreign players afforded opportunities on NFL rosters, including five Brits. Slavin believes that given the athletic talent here it is only “a matter of time” before something similar could occur in baseball.

“The United Kingdom has tremendous athletes and I think that once they see this spectacle unfold on the field it will open a lot of eyes about the opportunity in baseball,” Slavin predicted. “The game can grow over here.”

There are currently no English-born MLB players, with relief pitcher Phil Stockman (who grew up in Australia but was born in Oldham) the most recent, retiring in 2008. P.J. Conlon was born in Belfast and made his MLB debut for the New York Mets this week, and Slavin and Manfred are very keen for growth in this regard. There is a great history of baseball in this country. The game originated here as English Baseball, which eventually evolved into the sport that became America’s national pastime. There is, of course, rounders, a sport of similar vogue that is adapted from a previous form of baseball called town ball.

British weather could prove a problem (Getty)

Literary icons John Newbery and Jane Austen both mentioned the sport in their writings, while Arthur Conan Doyle felt compelled to send a letter to the Times of London in 1924 about his love for the game. Popularity in the sport boomed just prior to the Second World War with as many as 10,000 spectators per game.

There are currently 74 active baseball teams in the United Kingdom, and university baseball is growing, too. Commissioner Manfred and the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan had been working on plans to bring baseball to London since the latter’s election in 2016, and they feel the interest is there to establish the sport in the city. Khan even suggested the potential of an MLB franchise in London in the future, but given the demanding 162-game schedule, it seems unlikely.

It would be remiss to not mention the temperamental British summer weather. Should rain wash out either fixture it will have to be made up in the United States with no reserve days scheduled. It is one of the reasons MLB are keen to extend their time here in the future and make sure fans are able to see as many games as possible. “The ultimate goal is to develop the game,” the Commissioner concluded. “We want to cultivate a native fanbase in the UK initially and then Europe in general as a prelude to holding more games here in the future.”