Major League Baseball "wants to become the latest American sport to make inroads overseas," having met with various U.K. PR and digital firms in recent weeks, according to Sam Burne James of CAMPAIGN LIVE. A number of stories have appeared in U.K. and U.S. press in recent years "reporting that plans were underway to bring games" to the U.K., including one on the MLB's own website, although more recent stories have said this will not happen in '17. Multiple London agencies said that they "had met with London-based employees of MLB in recent weeks." Discussions were "wide-ranging and there is no concrete brief at the moment." According to PRWeek, "plans will evolve" in early '17, with the potential agency search being led by Kelhem Salter, the MLB's director of growth and strategy EMEA. Salter was "previously a major sports events manager in the office of the mayor of London, before switching to his current role in July this year." The league reportedly hired Charles Hill, a 31-year-old strategist at Google parent company Alphabet, as London-based managing director of the EMEA operation in Dec. '15 (CAMPAIGN LIVE, 12/15).
DESERT BALL: GULF NEWS' Ashley Hammond reported MLB L.A. Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts said that he "would be open to playing a Major League Baseball game in the UAE after his side partnered with Emirates Airline to sponsor Dubai Little League teams on Thursday." Emirates signed a five-year deal to become the Dodgers’ official airline partner in Feb. '16 and has "now announced an initiative to support grassroots baseball in the UAE." Roberts and first baseman Adrian Gonzalez said that they "would also be interested in playing" there. Roberts: "Conversations are going to be spurred from this. Major League Baseball is always looking to expand and be open minded. If there's an opportunity for two or potentially four teams to start a season here, so that there won't be a competitive advantage, it makes sense. But obviously this is in its infancy" (GULF NEWS, 12/15).
