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WBC Organizers Expecting Majority
Of Second Round Games To Sell Out |
With the second round of play underway, the inaugural World Baseball Classic is
“still gaining traction” as there have been “some sellouts and a lot of empty
seats,” according to Jack Curry of the N.Y. TIMES. MLB Commissioner Bud Selig
projected before the tournament that “more than 800,000 of the 1.2 million tickets
available would be sold.” But through Saturday, 331,629 tickets had been sold
for 24 games. Each of the final 15 games “will have to come close to selling out
to surpass Selig’s projection” (
N.Y. TIMES, 3/12). In Miami, Kevin Baxter
noted although the WBC is “drawing respectable TV ratings, live crowds have been
smaller than projected,” with an average of 13,609 per game. But that “could change
for the second round,” with the U.S. bracket shifting to 45,000-seat Angel Stadium,
and Puerto Rico playing three more times in San Juan (
MIAMI HERALD, 3/12).
Yesterday’s Japan-U.S. game at Angel Stadium drew 32,896 (
USA TODAY, 3/13).
South Korea-Mexico, which followed at the same venue, drew “a near-sellout crowd
of 42,979,” making the two-game total 75,875 (
L.A. TIMES, 3/13).
SO FAR, SO GOOD: Selig said of the WBC, “So far, it has been better than
I thought, and I went in believing it was going to be good. A lot of players who
didn’t come will now begin to hear from players who did come about how good this
has been” (
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 3/12). Venezuela and Marlins OF
Miguel Cabrera said, “I knew the competition was going to be good, but I didn’t
think it would be as good as we’ve seen.” U.S. manager Buck Martinez said, “The
caliber of baseball is much better across the board than we expected” (
MIAMI
HERALD, 3/12). U.S. and Yankees SS Derek Jeter said, “A lot of players who
aren’t here maybe would like to be here. If people weren’t interested in it, they
wouldn’t be watching. And it seems like everyone knows what’s happening. Everywhere
you go, you hear about it.” U.S. and Braves 3B Chipper Jones added, “It’s the
best baseball experience of my life” (
ESPN.com, 3/12). U.S. P Al Leiter:
“I’ve been with playoff teams, World Series teams, All-Star teams. People who
perceive this as a glorified exhibition couldn’t be more wrong” (
N.Y. DAILY
NEWS, 3/11).
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MLB Hoping WBC Will Open
Doors To Asian Consumers |
INTERNATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES: SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL’s Bill King cites sources
as saying that outside of North America, MLB is “closing in on annual revenue
of $120[M] from TV rights, sponsorships and licensing, an increase of about 50[%]
over the last five years and a giant leap” from the $10M figure in ’90. MLB VP/Int'l
Market Development Jim Small credits MLB’s opening of an office in Tokyo last
year as a “major reason that the league has been able to better translate the
popularity” of players such as Mariners RF Ichiro Suzuki and Yankees LF Hideki
Matsui into sponsorship dollars from Japanese companies. Before opening the Tokyo
office, about 20% of MLB’s Asian sponsorship deals were for more than one year.
Now, about 60% are multi-year deals. Sources said that in Latin America, sponsorship
revenue increased 140% in the last two years, “placing it at about $3[M] annually”
(
SBJ,
3/13 issue). CNNMONEY’s Chris Isidore noted many believe the WBC “can
help baseball gain a toe hold that has been lacking” in some int’l markets. The
Australian league is now defunct, and the Italian league is “just barely hanging
on.” Australian Baseball Federation CEO Don Knapp said of the country’s participating
in the WBC, “Until we get a league up and running, we can’t expect to be in the
media at home. We need that to get a toe hold. We win just by being here, and
if we take away any money, that’s a huge help.” Italian Baseball Federation President
Riccardo Fraccari said, “Right now 70[%] percent of the money comes from our sponsors.
With the decision to take baseball out of the Olympics, it means many of the sponsors
will probably quit.” He added that the presence of Italy and the Netherlands in
the tournament is “crucial to convincing European sports fans and sponsors that
baseball is a truly international sport” (
CNNMONEY.com, 3/10).
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MLB Taking Measures In Puerto
Rico To Avoid Political Flap |
STEALING SIGNS: The N.Y. TIMES’ Curry reported that MLB officials had at
least three meetings Friday about crowd control at Cuba’s games following an incident
Thursday in San Juan when two fans held up a sign critical of Fidel Castro. MLB
Senior VP/Security Kevin Hallinan said that MLB was “sensitive to provocative
signs and that none would be allowed at future games.” Curry noted there was a
“much heavier security presence as fans in long lines waited to be patted down
and have their bags searched [Friday]. Anyone with a sign, regardless of how innocent
the message, had it taken away.” Signs posted at stadiums “repeated the code of
conduct” and “advised fans against having signs that were political, offensive
or in poor taste.” Promoter Enrique Cruz: “This tournament is for seeing the best
baseball players in the world. It’s not for seeing a sign. It’s O.K. to say, ‘Hi,
Mom.’ It’s not O.K. to make a political statement” (
N.Y. TIMES, 3/11).
MLB President & COO Bob DuPuy in his WBC blog writes, “This is about baseball
as it is played around the world, not ideologies. Our tournament rules clearly
prohibited flags over a certain size or any offensive or political signs, just
as we do in [MLB]. We were just applying our rules” (
MLBLOGS.com, 3/13).
