Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said in an interview with the Associated Press published today that the league is in negotiations to bring regular season MLB games to London, England starting in 2017.
In a quote pulled from the AP piece:
We are very interested in playing there, and we’re working hard on that one,” Manfred said. “I don’t think it will be an opener because of the weather issues. It would be later in the season.” Baseball has been looking at the new Olympic Stadium as a possible venue. He wouldn’t discuss the possibility of shifting a high-profile matchup to England, such as Yankees-Red Sox. “We haven’t really settled on teams, and I don’t want to speculate about that,” he said. “Obviously, we want to make as good a first impression in Europe as we possibly can.”
Ummm…. yeah. I’m really not sure about this one guys.
Brainstorming the logistics challenges of playing a MLB game a venue that is designed for track and field has presented the following problems:
- What orientation would you place the field?
- Ripping up the track and field surface to put down grass/dirt for a MLB field isn’t going to work.
- Protective netting for the fans would go where?
- Where do the bullpens and dugouts go?
Not to mention the 3,500 mile flight from New York City (the closest MLB city) to London. That is 700 miles longer than the flight from NYC to Los Angeles. Also consider that the MLB schedule already plays 162 games in 180 days and how you would work in the off days required to make this trip feasible for the players.
We have a early look of what the folks in the United Kingdom think of the MLB product. Watch the video.
Yes, we know that was a comedic take on baseball, but still. Is sending regular season games to England smart? While the United Kingdom actually has a “professional” baseball league, it is essentially comparable to your adult beer league baseball league that plays at the YMCA on Saturday.
The United Kingdom as a whole hasn’t produced a major league player since left handed pitcher Phil Stockman, a right handed pitcher who retired in 2009. He pitched only 11 1/3 innings at the big league level and held a 0.79 ERA. It isn’t like there is a talent pool and high levels of interest coming from the UK that the MLB wants to tap into. The UK has only produced two other MLB players since World War one.
If the MLB wants to play regular season games in London, so be it. I won’t be cheer-leading the cause, but I won’t be actively protesting it either.
H/T: Sports Illustrated and the Associated Press