The eight team United Baseball League will commence its
inaugural season in March '96, according to an announcement
yesterday by UBL COO Mike Stone. The league will consist of a
four-team Eastern Division (Central Florida, Long Island, Puerto
Rico and DC) and a four-team Western Division (L.A., New Orleans,
Portland, and Vancouver). The league will have a 154-game
schedule and play their games in Central FL's Osceola County
Stadium, a stadium under construction in Long Island, Puerto
Rico's Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium, RFK Stadium, the L.A.
Coliseum, the Superdome, Portland's Civic Stadium, and
Vancouver's BC Place (UBL).
ONE UP ON MLB: The UBL also announced an agreement with
Liberty Sports to televise selected regular season games and the
championship series. The agreement will place 30-40 regular
season games on Liberty's RSNs, including Prime sports. Another
25-30 games will be reserved for broadcast and cable syndication,
with an additional 26 games slated for international broadcast.
Liberty will distribute games through Prime Sports Radio and also
create baseball related programming for the UBL (Liberty Sports).
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING: USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand: "The
league already has one thing Major League Baseball doesn't: a TV
game plan for next year." He also notes the UBL is actually
buying time on Liberty Sports, rather than Liberty paying for the
UBL's rights (USA TODAY, 8/18). In New York, Jason Diamos
writes, "They don't have any players yet. But at least the minds
behind the United Baseball League have some owners now. And a
television deal. And a tentative date to start their inaugural
season" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/18). In L.A., George Dohrmann writes the
UBL and its unnamed Los Angeles franchise "took two steps toward
reality Thursday when the league announced a starting date and a
national television contract" (L.A. TIMES, 8/18). In Vancouver,
Terry Bell writes, "The [UBL] is moving full speed ahead -- even
though it often appears powered by a plowhorse instead of a
Ferrari" (Vancouver PROVINCE, 8/18).
