Posted on March 25th, 2008 by Agent 47
It’s officially MLB season, and the opening game contenders are: the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics in the country of Japan.
This 2008 MLB season opening game will bring lots of emotion and enthusiasm to the Japanese fans that were waiting for this great sports event, especially because their compatriot Daisuke Matsuzaka is part of this start.
Among the many concerns from the fans of the States about this first game, is the fact that the game was scheduled to start at 5:00am; and as we can see it’s almost impossible for many MLB fans to watch it at such hour.
But the MLB authorities are paying little attention to this restlessness from the fans, mostly because they have a very specific goal (commercially talking). You might be asking your self what does “commercially talking” means; well this means that they are opening their horizons to other target markets. (Starting with the Japanese market)
This strategically way to find more fans in other countries will help the MLB business to grow as they need to survive in the market. Of course they will continue giving this popular game to their USA fans; but they won’t be their preferred ones any more and this is just to make more money which is good.
It’s well known for the Americans and Canadians fans that many MLB players refused to go to Japan but as they said there’s nothing they can do to change the reality they are confronting right now.
My personal concern regarding this topic is: will the USA and Canadian fans continue purchasing and loving this sport as usual or will they get mad assuming that they are giving more attention to foreign fans?
As I know the MLB community has never mention economic problems or that they can afford any of the expenses because they don’t have good liquidity… why did they decided to instill the culture of this game in other countries or markets?
Greed sometimes makes people get out of any common sense, I don’t think this is the case they are just starting a new strategy to gain more public and all what this can bring with it. But they really need to be conscious because sometimes when you try to include the most they can… there will be an area that can be unprotected causing unnecessary problems.
Filed under: MLB
