ABU DHABI: Major League Baseball (MLB) is likely to include the United Arab Emirates (UAE) amongst the overseas venues in which the league’s overseas matches will be held from mid-2019 onwards, UAE’s The National reports.
In June next year, the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees will face off in London, fuelling the MLB’s plans to make baseball a globally played game in the long run. The league has reportedly received offers from the Middle East as hosts for their matches since a long time.
“We are observing interest in recent years in potential partners in the Middle East to do various activities and are looking carefully at opportunities and expect to become more active there,” Chris Park, MLB’s executive vice president for product marketing told The National.
MLB’s success could well hinge on the increasing number of American expats in the UAE, which came up to 50,000 according to a 2015 estimate by BQ Magazine.
The league is likely to consider a survey conducted by Nielsen in 2017 which revealed that 14% of Emiratis aged between 16 and 69 were interested in baseball out of various sports in different countries around the world.
Finding a broadcaster won’t be an issue for the MLB, as BeIN has broadcast its matches in the region since 2015 and can reportedly screen a maximum of 2 matches a week. BeIN is also in the news at present for being the official broadcasters of the FIFA World Cup in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
The MLB has a foothold to an extent already in the Middle East as one of the teams, Los Angeles Dodgers signed a 5-year agreement with Emirates Airline in December 2016 to sponsor the Dubai Little League, which is the junior version of baseball. Emirates is one of the partners of the Los Angeles side in the league as well since February 2016, as a part of the deal.
In Los Angeles, Emirates has home plate and foul pole signage at all of the Dodgers’ games, along with a hospitality lounge. The company also activates the deal through signage, occasional ceremonial first pitches and fan appreciation activities.
“We look at baseball as a global sport,” Lon Rosen, the Dodgers’ chief marketing officer and executive vice president, told the daily.
“We look at different countries around the world and Emirates brought this opportunity to us; the more people who buy our brand the better. What’s important to us and Emirates is to grow our brands worldwide and we’re now in our third season in Dubai.”
Interestingly, baseball and the Middle East go back a long way as the Little League was first staged in Saudi Arabia in 1956.
