American professional baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) has released a product called ‘World Tour’.
Last year, the MLB labor and management agreed on a world tour that will be held in overseas regular leagues starting this year. Previously, they played overseas matches, but starting this year, they expanded their scope to the whole world with the title of world tour.
The first MLB regular league overseas game was held in August 1996. At the time, a three-game series between the New York Mets and the San Diego Padres was held in Monterrey, Mexico. Overseas matches had the meaning of an event, so they were not held every year or regularly.
But this year is different. The San Diego and San Francisco Giants have already played the ‘Mexico City Series’ in Mexico City, Mexico, and on the 24th and 25th of next month, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs will face each other in London, England. The London series and Mexico City series will be held next year.
MLB regular leagues will also be held in Korea and Japan, where professional baseball is a popular sport. In particular, there were reports in the United States that the San Diego and Los Angeles Dodgers would play the opening game of the 2024 season at the Gocheok Sky Dome in March next year. San Diego is Kim Ha-seong’s team, and the Dodgers is a club where Park Chan-ho and Ryu Hyun-jin played an active role, so they are a box office card.
However, the MLB secretariat is delaying the official announcement of the Seoul series. USA Today and other US local media outlets also reported, “The details of next year’s Seoul series are not known.”
Since the ‘All-Star World Tour’, which was scheduled to be held in Korea in November of last year, was suddenly canceled about a month ago, there is an uneasy look at next year’s Seoul series. At the time, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) was upset because the MLB Secretariat unilaterally canceled the schedule. And the ticket price for the all-star world tour ranged from 60,000 to 390,000 won. So sales were very low. The KBO insisted on lowering the price, but the MLB secretariat insisted on ‘expensive games’. one of the reasons it failed. For MLB, it may mean that it is an overseas game, but it is very different from a domestic professional baseball ticket that costs 30,000 won.스포츠토토
It is definitely welcome news that the Seoul series will be held next year. However, if the MLB secretariat shows an overbearing attitude again, the lameness of last year could be repeated. If it’s a Seoul tour for Korean baseball fans, it’s right to meet the Korean baseball fans’ eye level.