The World Baseball Classic versus the Olympics
The World Baseball Classic is now upon us. It has a caused lot of excitement, speculation and debate in international baseball circles. Many view the WBC as direct opposition to Olympic Baseball and a ploy by Major League Baseball to make a few more dollars. I've decided I'm going to offer my perspective, whatever that's worth to you.
There is a lot of criticism out there regarding the WBC. People are disappointed because not all of the big names are playing with the likes of Barry Bonds and Vlad Guerrero sitting out. Others see it as a giant marketing ploy by Major League Baseball that works in opposition to the Olympic games. I think Al Leiter has the best persepective on it explaining that regardless of whether the all the best players participate, it is still the best collection of talent in one competition in the history of the game (i'm paraphrasing but you get the point). Is it a marketing ploy? I don't know about ploy, but it sure is marketing. That's the idea isn't it? This is an opportunity to connect people through baseball and spread the game across the world.
I don't know exactly what the perceptions in the U.S. are right now. I would imagine it is beginning to gain attention as the American team begins competition. But throughout the rest of the world people are fired up about this. If you've never been to Holland or Italy you wouldn't understand, but this is a huge event for them. The WBC will have an amazing impact on countries that have been caught in the middle of fully professional leagues and amatuer competition.
In the past the Olympic baseball has struggled to gain the legitimacy that many hoped it would attain. The Cubans have pretty much dominated having won gold in 3 of the 4 Olympic competitions mainly because they send their best players while the rest of the field sends, well, not their best. Because the games overlap the MLB season many of the best players are in the middle of the professional season and their employers won't let them leave.
A lot blame has been placed on MLB for this. I think it is a bit unfair to place all the blame on their side. The reality is that the Major League Baseball Players Association has a hand in it as well and the IOC and IBAF simply couldn't ever come to terms. Sadly baseball is one of the world's most popular team sports and it won't be in the 2012 London Games.
The American method of organizing sport differs greatly from most countries. While the U.S. is organized through schools and organizations most other countries offer more direct methods of managing their sports through national federations. For example, most of Norwegian Baseball's funding comes from the government. When baseball is dropped from the Olympics this is a sign to the governing bodies that baseball isn't as important resulting in less funding. This is the true shame of the IOC's decision.
I had heard rumors that one of the major reasons to vote the baseball out was because the stadiums were too expensive and oversized resulting in a void when the Olympics left. I see the point but it is ridiculous to beleive that smaller facilities can't be expanded with portable seating to accomodate extra spectators. The Netherlands did this in the 2005 World Cup creating a great environment for thousands of spectators.
The Olympics need to define themselves more clearly. In certain sports that are highly professionalized like baseball, hockey, and basketball they need to establish eligibility rules that limit the level of competition to equalize the playing field. Major Leaguers are employees working to win something very valuable. No business man in their right mind would shut down the ballpark for 2 weeks to have their very expensive labor force play for something that doesn't benefit them. It would simply be bad business.
There is a lot of criticism out there regarding the WBC. People are disappointed because not all of the big names are playing with the likes of Barry Bonds and Vlad Guerrero sitting out. Others see it as a giant marketing ploy by Major League Baseball that works in opposition to the Olympic games. I think Al Leiter has the best persepective on it explaining that regardless of whether the all the best players participate, it is still the best collection of talent in one competition in the history of the game (i'm paraphrasing but you get the point). Is it a marketing ploy? I don't know about ploy, but it sure is marketing. That's the idea isn't it? This is an opportunity to connect people through baseball and spread the game across the world.
I don't know exactly what the perceptions in the U.S. are right now. I would imagine it is beginning to gain attention as the American team begins competition. But throughout the rest of the world people are fired up about this. If you've never been to Holland or Italy you wouldn't understand, but this is a huge event for them. The WBC will have an amazing impact on countries that have been caught in the middle of fully professional leagues and amatuer competition.
In the past the Olympic baseball has struggled to gain the legitimacy that many hoped it would attain. The Cubans have pretty much dominated having won gold in 3 of the 4 Olympic competitions mainly because they send their best players while the rest of the field sends, well, not their best. Because the games overlap the MLB season many of the best players are in the middle of the professional season and their employers won't let them leave.
A lot blame has been placed on MLB for this. I think it is a bit unfair to place all the blame on their side. The reality is that the Major League Baseball Players Association has a hand in it as well and the IOC and IBAF simply couldn't ever come to terms. Sadly baseball is one of the world's most popular team sports and it won't be in the 2012 London Games.
The American method of organizing sport differs greatly from most countries. While the U.S. is organized through schools and organizations most other countries offer more direct methods of managing their sports through national federations. For example, most of Norwegian Baseball's funding comes from the government. When baseball is dropped from the Olympics this is a sign to the governing bodies that baseball isn't as important resulting in less funding. This is the true shame of the IOC's decision.
I had heard rumors that one of the major reasons to vote the baseball out was because the stadiums were too expensive and oversized resulting in a void when the Olympics left. I see the point but it is ridiculous to beleive that smaller facilities can't be expanded with portable seating to accomodate extra spectators. The Netherlands did this in the 2005 World Cup creating a great environment for thousands of spectators.
The Olympics need to define themselves more clearly. In certain sports that are highly professionalized like baseball, hockey, and basketball they need to establish eligibility rules that limit the level of competition to equalize the playing field. Major Leaguers are employees working to win something very valuable. No business man in their right mind would shut down the ballpark for 2 weeks to have their very expensive labor force play for something that doesn't benefit them. It would simply be bad business.
posted by Andy Johnson at 4:35 PM
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