Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred believes this weekend's London games can help springboard the sport's popularity in Europe thanks to the "special affinity" between Great Britain and the United States, emulating the way the NFL has found success in the UK.
The NFL has been coming to London annually since 2007, and popularity has only grown in that time. Games at Wembley and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium sell out within minutes of going on sale, and the demand is something MLB clearly wants to emulate.
Both the 2019 games at London Stadium between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox sold out, setting attendance records for regular season games played outside the United States.
All the momentum was halted by the Covid-19 pandemic, however, and fans have instead been forced to wait for four years before seeing their heroes in action again.
This time around, however, commissioner Manfred is confident the St Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs can recapture the UK's public interest. "London is a great sports town, I think because there's a natural affinity for sport here in London, it's a great place to gain a foothold into Europe." he said. "I do also think for historical reasons there's a special affinity between Great Britain and the United States."
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Regardless of the action out on the field, the games will leave a lasting legacy at the London Stadium. Crews have been working for two weeks to revamp the inner stadium and make it ready for baseball, and the two purpose-built locker rooms will remain as part of the stadium for good.
Purpose-built Major League Baseball locker rooms will now be a permanent fixture at the London Stadium (Getty Images for MLB Europe)Baseball is set to return next year for two more games at the London Stadium with the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies the two teams making the trip. In 2025, MLB will hold regular season games in Paris, before returning to London in 2026.
After that point, the next Collective Bargaining Agreement between the MLBPA and MLB will decide the fate of future games abroad.
But Manfred doesn't seem worried about the future of baseball in Europe, explaining he thinks there's an easy way to build a fanbase - get youngsters playing.
"I think in terms of picking locations, starting points, we pay a lot of attention to what other sports have done," he continued. "The NFL has had a big presence here in London, taking advantage of the sporting culture here. I think in terms of 2019, play is a really important part of developing fandom in countries where [it isn't normally played].
"I was at a school this morning making a donation for the construction of a field where young people can play baseball and interact with our game, in addition to bringing great players here and showcasing the Major League game, like other sports we need to continue to invest in youth participation and make sure young people continue to play our game."
The Cardinals and Cubs rivalry is one of the oldest in professional sports, older than the Yankees and Red Sox. What started as a dispute over trade on the Mississippi River resulted in decades of furious hatred between fans of the two teams, which will continue in London this weekend.
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