All of us who consider ourselves baseball fanatics understand the unique timeless mystery of the game. Our summertime sports passion has evolved into a year round obsession of baseball. With the development of the WBC, baseball is steadily becoming an international sport of merit. With that in mind, what we are seeing in this off-season, regarding the pursuit of Japanese quality pitchers by major market MLB baseball franchises, should not be looked at as a grotesque attempt to acquire the untested foreign talent and sports tabloid headlines. This has become a huge international business strategy that can secure enormous revenue for all baseball franchises involved.
Who knows how much revenue and cash reserve these MLB franchises have secured over the last decade of baseball popularity. Until baseball franchises open their financial books to the public this will always be a speculative guess to the inquiring public.
The New York Yankees are considered the Microsoft Corporation of MLB. Generating international revenue that keeps getting larger and larger with each passing year. It is beginning to sink in with other Franchises as well. Reinvesting in your franchises pocket strategically, TV revenue, farm systems, network sports venues and signing of international players, will line the franchise pockets for years to come. Playing the international marketing game can be a financial windfall for all those willing to take the initial plunge. This is evident by the 51 million dollar bid that the Boston Red Sox submitted, and eventually won, to the Seibu Lions, of the Japanese Baseball League, for the negotiating rights for their star pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka. This was followed up this week by the 25 million dollar winning bid that the New York Yankees secured for the negotiating rights to Japanese pitcher Kei Igawa of the Hanshin Tigers of the Japanese Baseball League.
The baseball world is all a buzz by this initial act of, what the public views as, ludicrous spending by the egotistical spoiled baseball owners of MLB. Is it egotistical pandering or shrewd business tactics?
If this was such a ludicrous tactic why hasn’t the commissioner of MLB stepped in to protect the product that has been the golden goose? The silence speaks volumes on the enormity of the financial windfall that is ascending upon this international marketing game and the future of MLB on a global scheme.
The timing of all this to coincide with the success of the WBC interest is not coincidental. This is international big business and the beginning of a world sports market. The MLB has obviously been looking at the talent displayed by the WBC and have decided that the results of interest and talent in the global market is worthy of this kind of attention and good business sense. This is serious folks.
