On May 15th, the Dubai based Baseball United league announced its first franchise, the Mumbai Cobras. With this act, the league which intends to begin play from 2024, has given India its first ever professional baseball team. On May 30th, the Karachi Monarchs were born giving Pakistan its first professional baseball club.
Mumbai is a city of some 21 million people in a country of over 1.3 billion. Of course, not all of them will follow the new team but if even a fraction of them do, that's a lot of new eyeballs on our game. Just from a vantage point of people, we have a very compelling case to expand the game into India. Karachi is also a large city (17 million people) with a very young population, the youngest large city in Pakistan in fact and a natural rival for the Mumbai entry. Moreover, Pakistan is a little bit ahead in that they have already given qualifying for the WBC a go twice and have what is considered the strongest national team in the region.
There are two more franchises expected to play in the Baseball United inaugural 2024 campaign with the view of adding more in the future. These should be announced in the coming weeks or few months. Already, things look to be shaping up nicely though. The India-Pakistan rivalry is famous in the cricket realm and was a no-brainer in a league based in South Asia. The Dubai based league will probably add at least one team in that city itself at some point, and we all know Dubai is always up for a spectacle and always up for bigger and better. Recent decades have shown that if they do something down there, they make sure to go big and that is what Baseball United will need to break through. They will also need a comprehensive strategy to tap baseball's most potentially lucrative untapped market.
For starters, there will need to be a concentrated and consistent effort to ensure that the public is aware that they're getting a pro ballclub. Baseball does not currently get much coverage in India and is very much a niche sport. The same is true in Pakistan. Cricket is king and sports like soccer and basketball also attract large followings. To even grab the requisite attention requires aggressive marketing through social media, TV, radio and other means. Not every citizen of these countries needs to answer the call to arms, only a fraction to make it viable, but every effort must be made to get those people on board.
These new fans also need a convenient way to watch the games and follow their new team. In the past, we would have had to rely on major TV networks in these countries whose executives would be understandably skeptical of a sport they know little about. Today, there is the advantage of being able to use platforms such as YouTube or Twitch to stream games. For a modest monthly fee, subscribers can watch games ad-free and on any of their hand-held devices. They can even watch after if they missed the live broadcast due to work, school or so forth. Teams in Taiwan's CPBL do this to great effect and foreign fans like me are very grateful. Baseball United may choose to use one of these platforms or present its own. It may also be the case that teams have their own individual channels as is the case in CPBL. All this said, traditional TV and radio deals still matter and securing these will be critical to the league's success.
Another point of importance is foreign fans. On one hand, this includes people like me with no ties to the region that simply want to see the game grow. On the other hand, it includes a very large diaspora and a very large contingent of second and third generation Canadians, Americans etc. whose families hail from India, Pakistan or so forth. A gold amount of these people probably watch MLB, play fantasy baseball, and would love to have a team to support in the land of their ancestors. Their support is essential also. This is another reason why I stress having livestreams on these platforms like Twitch that can be accessed from all over the world with ease. This is also a good argument to have English language broadcasts available also which I wish CPBL would bring back.
Infrastructure is also key. The ballpark should be a trendy hot spot to be at on a weekday evening or weekend afternoon. They need not be massive, but they should be comfortable, family friendly and with a lively atmosphere. There should be music and dancing. Why not? It's what makes baseball in East Asia so great to watch. There should also be all the local favorites in the concession stands. As an aside, that may be a nice chance to partner with local fast food and snack chains to gain some sponsors and notoriety.
Lastly, it would be great if they came out with their own baseball cards and introduced The Hobby to fans in the region. A clean, sleek design and reasonable prices should attract buyers and generate revenue for the league. Other memorabilia can include team logo balls, bats and of course jerseys but the cards would definitely be a nice touch. Of course, adding interesting inserts like autographed or numbered cards would be even better.
In the end, I'm anxious to see what the other franchises are. My guess is Dubai and one in Saudi Arabia, probably Riyadh to add a second major rivalry. Hopefully, the league will later expand to other GCC countries and elsewhere. I await the 2024 season with great enthusiasm. Trying to achieve a major breakthrough for baseball in the MENA and Indian subcontinent regions was long overdue and this is the sort of thing that will attract youth to our game, giving these countries a deeper talent pool for their national teams. It will be good for MLB too as I'm sure new baseball fans following Baseball United will also become enthusiastic about MLB. I wish everyone involved the best because they are doing right by our game and bringing it, and the opportunities that come with it, to a whole new group of people.
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