MLB to play games in Europe next year? (Amsterdam??)

[soxhop411]

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/24658396/report-mlb-may-soon-announce-regular-season-game-in-europe
 

(tweets taken from linked article)
 
Eric Fisher @EricFisherSBJ
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Selig also is hopeful for an announcement soon of a MLB reg season game in Europe. Lg has eyed, London, Netherlands, among other area

 

Jon Morosi         @jonmorosi
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If MLB goes to Europe next year, Amsterdam is viewed as being more prepared to host games in 2015 than London, sources say.

 
 
Seems like MLB is trying to play more games in other countries like we saw this year with Australia 

 

[CaptainLaddie]

They better send the Rockies to play the Mariners.

 

[LondonSox]

If the Sox come to either it's bash time!

 

[pockmeister]

There's no doubt they'd get a full stadium, wherever they play it - plenty of people in the baseball community across most of Europe.  And all the American businesses here would take the corporate seats and boxes in no time at all.  The question is, which stadium to play in?
 
I think one of the reasons Amsterdam is favoured is the Amsterdam Arena, which has a retractable roof so there's no risk of losing the game to a rain-out.  However, it's a bit difficult to see how it could be set up for baseball - the playing area is relatively compact for soccer, and doesn't have a lot of extra space around it.  If they do squeeze baseball in, then it's going to be an odd-shaped field, likely with a large screen in left or right.  
 

 

 
If London is preferred, then the game will be outdoors and at risk from the British summer weather.  Quite where in London they would play would be up for debate.  Wembley Stadium would seem to be too big at 90,000 capacity and with the same layout issues as Amsterdam.  Arsenal's Emirates Stadium is even more compact in playing space, although a better capacity.  I think more likely would be the Olympic Stadium, currently being converted for soccer use by West Ham.  However, it will retain the ability to be converted back to hosting athletics, and thus has a much larger playing area than a conventional soccer stadium.  This would look a better candidate for conversion to baseball, although West Ham don't move in until the start of the 2016/17 season
 

 
The other option would be to use one of the cricket grounds.  Lord's is the largest but also the "Home of Cricket" and I can imagine the old blazers who run the MCC would be very skeptical about allowing baseball to be played there.  Although it would be quite fun to see the old pavilion being used as the clubhouse.  Home plate would probably go bottom left of the photo below, between the Mound stand and the UFO-esque media centre
 

 
And then the other cricket option is the Oval, which lacks the capacity of Lord's but does have the large, sweeping OCS stand which would make a natural baseball stadium, and a more progressive ownership.  It would be the best fit in terms of the playing field, but I think MLB might want to install additional temporary seating if they used it
 

 

[Orel Miraculous]

This ballpark in Hoofddorp was just completed last year and supposedly designed to be easily expandable to accommodate 30,000 fans.  That seems hard to imagine by looking at the pictures, but there is no question that, on a field level, this is now the best ballpark in Europe:
 

 

[Spacemans Bong]

If it's in Amsterdam, it'll be at the ballpark in Hoofddorp. That gaping empty space down the lines is the where the other 28,000 seats will go (the outfield too).
 
If it's in London it'll be at Lords. The old farts at the MCC don't have any real power, and they hosted archery at the 2012 Olympics and a pretty cool baseball and cricket exhibition at the Lord's Museum (which I sadly missed). They aren't the GAA refusing English games to be played at Croke Park.

 

[pockmeister]

If it's in Amsterdam, it'll be at the ballpark in Hoofddorp. That gaping empty space down the lines is the where the other 28,000 seats will go (the outfield too).
 
If it's in London it'll be at Lords. The old farts at the MCC don't have any real power, and they hosted archery at the 2012 Olympics and a pretty cool baseball and cricket exhibition at the Lord's Museum (which I sadly missed). They aren't the GAA refusing English games to be played at Croke Park.

 
Having had a look at the location of Hoofddorp, it doesn't look like the kind of place that would get MLB excited from a marketing perspective (which is the only reason for coming to Europe.  Whilst there's clearly a great baseball facility being developed there, it's some way out of the centre of Amsterdam, and rather lacking in "glamour".  
 
One of the reasons why the NFL games work so well in London is the attraction of London itself and the impressive nature of Wembley stadium.  Hoofddorp is lacking on both these points, hurting the marketing opportunity for MLB - it would look a little like taking major league games to a converted Spring Training facility.  I'd be pretty sure that they would be looking for a much larger venue very central in a major (and attractive) European city, even if that compromises the playing environment.
 
Lord's would be ideal in London, although there would be concerns raised about the impact on the square becoming part of the outfield.  Archery didn't really have the same effect...

 

[Dan to Theo to Ben]

They better send the Rockies to play the Mariners.

With Jurrjens, Rockies are indeed a good bet.  My guess is Braves go over with them (Andrelton Simmons, past JJ team) if it is indeed Netherlands.

 

[tulse_luper]

Lord's would be ideal in London, although there would be concerns raised about the impact on the square becoming part of the outfield.

 

Mike Carlson off the telly tells a story about his time working for MLB in Europe, organising the minor league game they held in London back in the 90s. They were looking at Lord's as the likely venue, but it all went a little sour when some stateside grand fromage was informed she wouldn't be permitted access to the Long Room, so they ended up using the Oval instead. Great work, blazers.

 

[OzSox]

 
Having had a look at the location of Hoofddorp, it doesn't look like the kind of place that would get MLB excited from a marketing perspective (which is the only reason for coming to Europe.  Whilst there's clearly a great baseball facility being developed there, it's some way out of the centre of Amsterdam, and rather lacking in "glamour".  
 
One of the reasons why the NFL games work so well in London is the attraction of London itself and the impressive nature of Wembley stadium.  Hoofddorp is lacking on both these points, hurting the marketing opportunity for MLB - it would look a little like taking major league games to a converted Spring Training facility.  I'd be pretty sure that they would be looking for a much larger venue very central in a major (and attractive) European city, even if that compromises the playing environment.
 
Lord's would be ideal in London, although there would be concerns raised about the impact on the square becoming part of the outfield.  Archery didn't really have the same effect...

 
I agree with all this. The precedent is this year's MLB games in Australia which were played at the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground close to the city centre rather than at one of the custom baseball facilities in western Sydney.

 

[Spacemans Bong]

 
Having had a look at the location of Hoofddorp, it doesn't look like the kind of place that would get MLB excited from a marketing perspective (which is the only reason for coming to Europe.  Whilst there's clearly a great baseball facility being developed there, it's some way out of the centre of Amsterdam, and rather lacking in "glamour".  
 
One of the reasons why the NFL games work so well in London is the attraction of London itself and the impressive nature of Wembley stadium.  Hoofddorp is lacking on both these points, hurting the marketing opportunity for MLB - it would look a little like taking major league games to a converted Spring Training facility.  I'd be pretty sure that they would be looking for a much larger venue very central in a major (and attractive) European city, even if that compromises the playing environment.
 
Lord's would be ideal in London, although there would be concerns raised about the impact on the square becoming part of the outfield.  Archery didn't really have the same effect...

 
Mr. Baseball (the go to site for European baseball) has covered this in detail. Hoofddorp has been hoping to host MLB games and working with MLB since the facility was announced. There is no way they would stick games in a soccer stadium over a purpose-built baseball field - rewarding the best baseball complex Europe has yet seen with MLB games is a perfect way to encourage other parts of Europe to build purpose-built baseball fields.
 
Also, Hoofddorp is about 10 miles outside of Amsterdam. You can easily market it as an Amsterdam event. It's not much further out from the canals than the Arena, which is on the ass-end of A'dam.
 
I live in London and I hope they go to Hoofddorp. Besides that Amsterdam is a wonderful city, I love Holland, and it's a purpose built complex, they actually like baseball there. Nobody gives a shit about baseball in England, and there might be no more than four or five diamonds in the whole country that would pass muster in an American public park. It would feel a bit xenophobic - like MLB was too scared to go anywhere where people aren't speaking English all the time.

 

[Infield Infidel]

The other tough thing about Amsterdam ArenA is that they would likely have to play in June or July, right? I'm assuming it would take more than a few days to set up the field, and then a few days to return it to soccer condition, and Ajax have matches August-May. They only play at home every other week, but there are also cup matches and Champions/Europa league matches midweek that you have to throw in there. It might be tough to fit a baseball game in March-May.
 
If the game is mid season, instead of at the start of the season, travel could be an issue, especially for a western team. 

 

[HriniakPosterChild]

No mid season games have ever been played outside North America, if I remember correctly. It would wreck the schedule to do so.

 

[Rough Carrigan]

Well, it's not like it's Australia or Japan where they're something like 12 hours off.  A 7 p.m. game in London would feel like 2 p.m to the players.

 

[Spacemans Bong]

Playing in Europe in March would be a recipe for disaster. The best time to do it would be right after the All Star break.

 

[bankshot1]

Is the purpose to build a fan-base to sell MLB games on-line or via cable or to eventually have European-based MLB teams?  Is there a possibility for reasonable European demand for the product, or is MLB kidding itself?

 

[pockmeister]

Is the purpose to build a fan-base to sell MLB games on-line or via cable or to eventually have European-based MLB teams?  Is there a possibility for reasonable European demand for the product, or is MLB kidding itself?

 
It's hard to envisage enough demand in Europe to establish teams here.  There is a baseball fan base in Holland, Italy and to some degree in the UK, and whilst that would be big enough to fill a stadium for a series, it's not going to sustain European teams.  Much more likely it's to continue to build demand for MLB.tv and mechandise / other commercial opportunities.  And MLB is likely sensible enough to know this.

 

[Spacemans Bong]

I've talked to MLB's Europe director before (Clive Russell, I think his name is - he's been involved with the Hoofddorp project) and for now it's about merch. He was sort of distressingly cynical about it - I interviewed with him for an internship and was excited to try and evangelize about baseball, and he was like "Yeah, really what I do is just negotiate agreements for stores to carry Yankees gear...sigh." Baseball jerseys are actually kind of in at the moment, and you see people wearing New Era hats all the time, but there's not much engagement in the UK outside of that. 
 
I don't think MLB would ever consider putting teams in Europe, but I think their goal would be to make it as popular as the NBA is here. Get more players coming out of Europe, sell tons of merch and MLB.TV subscriptions - and maybe get more coverage on regular TV -, and maybe help boost the European leagues already existing.