Revenue / 07.11.19

Baseball Faces Crowded Sports Market in Britain, Europe

Access Staff

Associated Press (07/06/19)

Baseball is attempting to make inroads into the U.K. and European markets, where sports like soccer, cricket, rugby, and tennis are traditionally dominant. With July being Wimbledon month, competition in Britain is especially fierce, yet House of Commons Speaker John Bercow admits "it's becoming less hard [for baseball to gain market share] because more and more people have got access to a television that enables them to watch an American football match and possibly a baseball match." Baseball games on TV and in tabloids have been less attention-getting than EPL transfer news, the progress of Phil Neville's Lionesses through the Women's World Cup, and the Cricket World Cup. Major League Baseball estimated that 70% of the 118,718 tickets at Olympic Stadium were sold to Britons, although accents in the stands sounded closer to an even division. Michael Janis of Westport, Conn., says, "In small doses [baseball] would work just fine," while National Football League games have better odds of gaining popularity in London thanks to its eight-game home schedule. "You could sell a season ticket to that, but how many baseball games are British people going to watch before the novelty wears off?" Janis asks.

Read the full article from Detroit Free Press. 

Tags: Sports , News , Stadium , NFL , Venues