MLB launched its "biggest-ever" global marketing
program tied to the 2000 World Series, as the league "teamed
with 50 corporate sponsors to run 30 consumer promotions in
15 countries built around the fall classic," according to
Michael McCarthy of USA TODAY, who notes that more than 450
winners of the promos from the 15 nations attended the
Series. Among the sponsors' int'l efforts: Gatorade held an
"under-the-cap" promo in Guatemala backed by TV and radio
ads; MasterCard sent 10 winners from Puerto Rico and the
Dominican Republic to World Series games; and Pepsi ran a
"mail-in label" sweeps in Venezuela and Puerto Rico,
offering trips to the Series. MLB VP/Int'l Business
Operations Paul Archey: "Baseball is a global game. We have
a strong fan base out there. Our big advantage is we have
so many foreign-born players." But McCarthy writes that the
World Series int'l "promotional blitz has been, in part, an
attempt to keep up with the Joneses," as the NFL, for
example, "stages a large number" of consumer promos around
the Super Bowl. Additionally, Archey "admits MLB has fouled
off the pitch in the past," but adds that "that's changing."
Archey: "We're taking a much more aggressive position to
reach the international audience" (USA TODAY, 10/27).
HOOPS HAS INT'L EDGE: WSJ.com's Michael Flagg wrote
that of the four major U.S. team sports, basketball has
"probably flourished most outside the U.S. recently." While
U.S. sports abroad "rely mostly on television for converts,"
ESPN and Rupert Murdoch's Star Sports "together run three
NBA games a week" in Asia. Japan, the "world's second-
largest media market," is the NBA's "biggest" int'l market.
But Europe "still generates slightly more revenue" for the
NBA than Asia, "most of it from television, but there's also
licensing fees ... and sponsorship deals with the likes of
McDonald's" (WSJ.com, 10/26).
