League Notes

MLBPA Head Says ’09 WBC Likely To Be Held In March

MLBPA Exec Dir Donald Fehr said that he has received “numerous suggestions from players on how to better optimize the [World Baseball Classic], but that most are excited by its potential to generate excitement and interest in baseball.” Fehr: “I have yet to have a player tell me that it’s a bad idea.” Fehr said that “other timing alternatives have been discussed, but no option presents itself as well as March, making it the likely month for 2009’s event” (MLB.com 3/15). Fehr also said that the MLBPA “supports the idea of bringing the game to China, India and other countries where baseball traditionally has not been played.” Fehr: “It’s inexpensive to do it, because you’re already playing the games. But sooner or later we’ll have to play games there” (Westchester JOURNAL NEWS, 3/16).

IRL: IRL President & COO Brian Barnhart said that the league “needs more manpower to close deals.” Barnhart: “We have 13 or 14 fewer employees than we had in December 2005. We were trying to be as lean as we could be, but what worked 18 months ago doesn’t necessarily work now. We need more arms, legs and bodies, and we need them now. And we’re going to get them.” The IRL also “needs help with its relationship with its television partner and its broadcast ratings, particularly with the recent passing of Buddy McAtee, the longtime leader of IMS Productions” (INDY STAR, 3/16).

NHL: ESPN’s E.J. Hradek wrote within the next five years, the NHL will “expand to two new cities, and you can bet Las Vegas will be one of them.” Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, a “big-time hockey fan, is part of a group that wants to land a team in Vegas.” Hradek adds the NHL is “worried about the internal battle at the NHLPA.” Commissioner Gary Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, who have “enjoyed a very cordial relationship with soon-to-be exiting” NHLPA Exec Dir Ted Saskin, will now have to “sit back and watch as the union goes through a lengthy process to hire a new leader” (ESPN.com, 3/15).