Major League Baseball will open an office in Tokyo next month in an attempt to spur promotional activity among its existing television, sponsorship and licensing clients and attract new sponsors and licensees.
The announcement, scheduled for today, comes as MLB is completing a new and expanded broadcast agreement in Japan.
MLB hopes that by putting a staff in Tokyo it will be better equipped to help clients put together programs that drive their business while promoting the league and its players. The continued migration to the United States of Japanese stars such as Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui, who started alongside each other in the AL All-Star outfield last week, has made the territory increasingly fertile for MLB.
The live broadcast of last week's All-Star Game drew a 9.8 rating in Japan, which projects to an audience of about 12.1 million viewers. The next-highest-rated program in the time slot drew a 4.4.
"It makes sense for us to have full-time representation over there and to make sure our broadcast partners are leveraging the rights," said Jim Small, vice president of global market development for MLB. "Most of my job is to make sure our partners fully understand what they purchase and utilize the rights they have."
Small will head the three-person office, scheduled to open Aug. 1. The league has hesitated to put down stakes abroad in the past because of the expense. MLB expects the annual cost of the office to be short of $1 million annually.
"It is small dollars compared to what we're generating over in Japan," he said.
