MLB wants new places to sell products.
Major League Baseball will finally play another two games in London in June 2023 and there are numerous reasons why it makes sense for the baseball barons to move a Chicago Cubs-St. Louis Cardinals series to England. Actually there is really only one reason. MLB owners have found out that there are pounds to be made playing in a football stadium in London. In June 2019, the Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees series put people in the seats, 59,659 for game one and a total of 118,718 for both games. Some serious money was made by MLB for the two games with those attendance figures. Digging into the numbers a bit, MLB found out that 70 percent of the people who purchased tickets were from England. Twenty percent came from the United States and the remainder flew into London from various global spots. That is all well and good but whether Major League Baseball and baseball’s industry can grow the game in London and England remains to be seen. The NFL is still trying to establish itself as a major player in the British sports world looking for a spot among soccer, cricket, tennis, golf and other sports.
Major League Baseball is also trying to tap into the India market. Baseball and cricket share some of the same traits, someone throws a ball and someone tries to hit it or someone tries to catch it. Cricket is the most popular sport in India. Major League Baseball has a long way to go in India although baseball is played in India. Major League Baseball would love to have a piece of India’s TV audience. In 2019, an India-Pakistan cricket world cup match drew more than 200 million eyeballs to the TV screen. MLB wants to grow its business globally. There are pounds to be made.
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