Baseball Guru
07-31-2003, 04:37 PM
http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/mlb_news.jsp?ymd=20030731&content_id=453766&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com Get tickets
NEW YORK -- Major League Baseball International is targeting March 2005 for the first ever World Cup of Baseball, top-ranking MLB officials said.
The first World Cup would probably be played in the United States during a two-week period near the end of Spring Training, and it would include MLB's top players representing their native lands. Eight to 16 countries are projected to be included in the draw.
"We've had meetings with our international committee and we're continuing to move forward with it as rapidly as possible," said Bob DuPuy, MLB's president and chief operating officer. "We'd like to have a World Cup as early as 2005."
MLB International is currently negotiating with the Japanese about opening the 2004 regular season in Tokyo, is considering playing Spring Training and regular season games in Europe and Latin America, and is preparing for the 2004 postseason tour of MLB All-Stars to Japan.
MLB has also set up a selection committee to select players, by the end of September, who will represent the U.S. during the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
DuPuy said the World Cup, like the Olympics, could be staged every four years, but a lot of work has to be done to execute the first one.
"You have to have a whole structure in place," DuPuy said. "You can't just say we're going to have it. Somebody brings the barn, somebody brings the lights, somebody makes some costumes, and we put on a play. There are a myriad of issues, including location, participants, compensation, broadcasts, sponsorships, relations with the international federations. All of that has to be pulled together and would have to be resolved by the end of this calendar year to do it in 2005."
Thus, a decision on whether to stage the first World Cup in 2005 will be made by the end of this year.
Talks are currently ongoing with the MLB Players Association. The union has long worked in conjunction with MLB to send the All-Stars to Japan and actually selects the team.
"We have been working closely with the Players Association in pursuit of our mutual goal of developing a World Cup," said Rob Manfred, MLB's vice president of labor relations and human resources.
Unlike the Olympics, in which MLB has not resolved yet to send its best players, having Major Leaguers involved in a World Cup tournament that won't interrupt the regular season has the support of Commissioner Bud Selig.
"Yes, there will be a World Cup and there will be a real World Series winner," Selig said.
About the Olympics, Selig has staunchly stood by his conviction that MLB can't take a break in its regular season to accommodate International Olympic Committee wishes to have the best players to the summer games. MLB officials said that situation is still evolving and might not be fully resolved until 2012 at the earliest. New York is bidding for the 2012 games and a decision on what country will host those Summer Olympics is still pending.
A move by the IOC last year to drop baseball as a gold medal Olympic sport faced fierce lobbying opposition by officials from MLB, USA Baseball and the International Baseball Federation. In the end, the matter didn't come to a vote and was pulled at the last minute from consideration.
The IOC indicated it would re-evaluate baseball's status after the Summer Olympics in Athens, but MLB has already agreed to send some professional players -- minor leaguers and former MLB players not then under contract. That approach worked with great success when the Tommy Lasorda-managed U.S. team won the gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
The World Cup would be another step in phasing MLB players into international competition, said Paul Archey, MLB's senior vice president of international business operations.
"MLB players definitely would participate. We want the World Cup to be the best of the best," he said. "The tournament should be about the best players from their country of origin or citizenship, playing against each other, playing for their flag.
"There's no reason why it couldn't co-exist with the Olympics, as a matter of fact we think it should. It would be very similar to the World Cup soccer model."
Soccer's World Cup is played every four years, two years after each Summer Olympics.
Archey presented the World Cup concept last month to the Commissioner's committee that is studying ways of marketing baseball both nationally and globally in the 21st century. He said it received a positive response.
"They were supportive," Archey said. "We want to keep it special, in a non-Olympic year."
Archey said that the consensus among baseball officials is that March would be a good time to stage the first tournament, preferably in U.S. cities that have domed stadiums and warm-weather climates, Archey added.
"I think we'd take no more than two weeks out of Spring Training, depending on how many teams we had and how we structure the tournament," Archey said. "The more participating countries, the better. We'd like to see 16, but there are issues that could cause us to keep the number smaller the first time around. We think we can field a tournament of eight to 16 teams and it would be competitive and globally represented."
By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com Get tickets
NEW YORK -- Major League Baseball International is targeting March 2005 for the first ever World Cup of Baseball, top-ranking MLB officials said.
The first World Cup would probably be played in the United States during a two-week period near the end of Spring Training, and it would include MLB's top players representing their native lands. Eight to 16 countries are projected to be included in the draw.
"We've had meetings with our international committee and we're continuing to move forward with it as rapidly as possible," said Bob DuPuy, MLB's president and chief operating officer. "We'd like to have a World Cup as early as 2005."
MLB International is currently negotiating with the Japanese about opening the 2004 regular season in Tokyo, is considering playing Spring Training and regular season games in Europe and Latin America, and is preparing for the 2004 postseason tour of MLB All-Stars to Japan.
MLB has also set up a selection committee to select players, by the end of September, who will represent the U.S. during the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
DuPuy said the World Cup, like the Olympics, could be staged every four years, but a lot of work has to be done to execute the first one.
"You have to have a whole structure in place," DuPuy said. "You can't just say we're going to have it. Somebody brings the barn, somebody brings the lights, somebody makes some costumes, and we put on a play. There are a myriad of issues, including location, participants, compensation, broadcasts, sponsorships, relations with the international federations. All of that has to be pulled together and would have to be resolved by the end of this calendar year to do it in 2005."
Thus, a decision on whether to stage the first World Cup in 2005 will be made by the end of this year.
Talks are currently ongoing with the MLB Players Association. The union has long worked in conjunction with MLB to send the All-Stars to Japan and actually selects the team.
"We have been working closely with the Players Association in pursuit of our mutual goal of developing a World Cup," said Rob Manfred, MLB's vice president of labor relations and human resources.
Unlike the Olympics, in which MLB has not resolved yet to send its best players, having Major Leaguers involved in a World Cup tournament that won't interrupt the regular season has the support of Commissioner Bud Selig.
"Yes, there will be a World Cup and there will be a real World Series winner," Selig said.
About the Olympics, Selig has staunchly stood by his conviction that MLB can't take a break in its regular season to accommodate International Olympic Committee wishes to have the best players to the summer games. MLB officials said that situation is still evolving and might not be fully resolved until 2012 at the earliest. New York is bidding for the 2012 games and a decision on what country will host those Summer Olympics is still pending.
A move by the IOC last year to drop baseball as a gold medal Olympic sport faced fierce lobbying opposition by officials from MLB, USA Baseball and the International Baseball Federation. In the end, the matter didn't come to a vote and was pulled at the last minute from consideration.
The IOC indicated it would re-evaluate baseball's status after the Summer Olympics in Athens, but MLB has already agreed to send some professional players -- minor leaguers and former MLB players not then under contract. That approach worked with great success when the Tommy Lasorda-managed U.S. team won the gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
The World Cup would be another step in phasing MLB players into international competition, said Paul Archey, MLB's senior vice president of international business operations.
"MLB players definitely would participate. We want the World Cup to be the best of the best," he said. "The tournament should be about the best players from their country of origin or citizenship, playing against each other, playing for their flag.
"There's no reason why it couldn't co-exist with the Olympics, as a matter of fact we think it should. It would be very similar to the World Cup soccer model."
Soccer's World Cup is played every four years, two years after each Summer Olympics.
Archey presented the World Cup concept last month to the Commissioner's committee that is studying ways of marketing baseball both nationally and globally in the 21st century. He said it received a positive response.
"They were supportive," Archey said. "We want to keep it special, in a non-Olympic year."
Archey said that the consensus among baseball officials is that March would be a good time to stage the first tournament, preferably in U.S. cities that have domed stadiums and warm-weather climates, Archey added.
"I think we'd take no more than two weeks out of Spring Training, depending on how many teams we had and how we structure the tournament," Archey said. "The more participating countries, the better. We'd like to see 16, but there are issues that could cause us to keep the number smaller the first time around. We think we can field a tournament of eight to 16 teams and it would be competitive and globally represented."