“We want to grow the game and expand to new markets.”
This is a simple sentiment shared between two major professional sports leagues in the US: Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League. Another common thread between these leagues is not allowing their respective athletes play for their home countries in the Olympics. Completely putting aside the monetary implications of a mid-season two-week shutdown, not allowing their athletes to play on truly the world stage is the exact opposite of trying to grow the game and expanding to new markets.
Let’s rewind all the way back to 1986 for a minute. The International Olympic Committee had eased already eased up on “amateurism” and pulled the trigger on allowing true professional athletes to compete in the Olympics. This decision paved the way for Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and the rest of The Dream Team to compete in the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Yes, at the time Michael Jordan was the most recognizable athlete in the world and everyone wanted to “Be Like Mike”. But can you imagine if, at the top of his game, Michael Jordan wasn’t allowed to play in Barcelona because David Stern and the NBA owners were concerned about losing money? Granted, basketball is considered a summer sport for the Olympics and does not cut into the NBA regular season, but just imagine for a minute that it did. There would have been outrage if the BEST PLAYER to EVER play the game wasn’t allowed to lace ’em up in front of the world.
Those players on that stage, combined with an increasing amount of international players within the NBA itself, allowed for the league to capitalize globally and market its product and players outside of North America.
So back to baseball and hockey.
In order for the best players to showcase their skills on a true world stage, Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League have no way to avoid a two-week shutdown mid-season. I understand that there are financial implications that come with that. But if the worry is about losing ticket sales and the per cap once a person is in a stadium or arena, that can be made up simply by extending the season by two-weeks in September/April. And, if the idea is to grow the game, again, having the BEST PLAYERS play on a world stage gives the potential to open up new revenue streams with broadcasting and streaming rights across the globe. Plus, both the MLB and the NHL already have a vast amount of international players on each team’s roster. Just imagine for a minute that those players are allowed to represent their respective home countries. A little kid in that part of the world will see that and that little kid will want to watch that athlete and to follow the team he plays for.
From there, it is up to the MLB and the NHL to capitalize on that interest. But as I am writing this, it is clear, at least to me, that they just don’t know how. Because if they did, there wouldn’t be such a harsh stance against allowing players to play in the Olympics.
The other argument, at least regarding NHL players, is: what if they get hurt at the Olympics? We saw this happen with John Tavares in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. He tore his knee apart representing his home country of Canada and was then out for the remainder of the NHL season. At the time Tavares was the Captain of the New York Islanders. I can imagine the panic and anger in the front office and amongst the fans that their player got injured not playing for the Islanders and it had a direct effect on the rest of the season. But, at the end of the day, hockey is hockey and Tavares could have just as easily injured his knee in a game at Nassau Coliseum.
Take Steven Stamkos for example. He was selected for Team Canada that year too. But, due to injury he couldn’t compete, and his roster spot was filled by Martin St. Louis. I vividly remember watching the game, all the way back in 2013, where Stamkos broke his leg. I was interning with the Lightning at the time, and since it was both a day game and an away game, those of us who worked in the office had the opportunity to take some time to enjoy watching the game on the jumbotron. When Stamkos crashed into the goal and then was lying on the ice, we all fell silent. After a brief moment, everyone was running back to their desks. This was because we all knew how crazy the phonelines and inboxes were about to be. So, like I said, I can actually imagine what was happening within the Islanders organization when Tavares was injured.
It is my opinion that using “well he could get injured” is a cop out. Hockey players getting injured is not a novel concept nor is it restricted to the Olympics. Hell, players play injured in the Stanley Cup Playoffs more often than not!! Fans anxiously await the reveal of player injuries the moment a team is eliminated from the playoffs. Yes, a star player getting injured in the Olympics has major implications for his club in the NHL but the same implications arise if a player gets injured in the Winter Classic or in the random regular season games played in Europe. Yes, the NHL is able to monetize the shit out of those games because they control all aspects but the risk to the individual player is no different then or in the Olympics.
Baseball is in a similar boat. MLB would have to shut down in the middle of the summer to allow for its stars to go to the Olympics. And we have the same argument over loss of revenues and so on and so on. But wouldn’t it be spectacular if, again, the BEST PLAYERS were allowed to PLAY on the World’s Stage?!?! That is a much better idea than changing the rules of a game, that has existed and persisted since before the Civil War, in hopes of gaining new fans while pissing off a good chunk of an existing and loyal fan base. Yes, do I personally have an issue with making the designated hitter a thing in both the American League and the National League? Of course! I love the differences in strategy and the aspect of home field advantage will never be so apparent in sports again. But I do understand that not everyone is like me and a lot of people want the DH to be universal. That’s not the rule change I am talking about. Because despite my own personal opinions, on a larger scale it logically makes sense. I’m talking about rules that adjust the pace of the game. The implementation of the pitchers’ clock and the rule about the minimum number of batters a relief pitcher must face. A huge part of the game of baseball is the strategy of the manager and the respective coaches. Yes, constant pitching changes “slow down” the game but baseball is not, and has NEVER BEEN, the same fast paced sport as basketball or hockey.
So instead of tinkering with the game, the best way for the game to grow IS by sending MLBers to the Olympics. It is a way to showcase the global talent within the league itself, just like hockey, just like basketball. And again, just like the NHL, MLB doesn’t know how to capitalize on the global opportunities like the NBA. Because, like I said, if it did, Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, Yu Darvish, Javier Bรกez, and Max Kepler would be on the roster of their respective home countries at the Olympics.
I have already touched on the logistical issues surrounding the MLB and NHL sending players to the Olympics that the NBA does not have to deal with. But the NHL has proved it is not impossible to have an Olympic break mid-season. And with the advancement of technology, it has allowed for people, especially young people, to watch games in real time, regardless of time difference, and not have to wait for prime time. I also think that the MLB and NHL should negotiate with the IOC and with the respective broadcast outlets who won bids to carry the games to see some monetary gain for allowing its players to play. There should be an agreement in place that allows each respective league to utilize footage of its players so it can effectively market them outside of North America.
There is a balance that needs to be achieved between the International Olympic Committee, the World Baseball Softball Confederation, the International Ice Hockey Federation, Major League Baseball, and the National Hockey League. And by no stretch of the imagination do I think this is an easy undertaking. The complexity of the world of sport business is not lost on me. From a team/league sense, including league revenue-share models, to sports broadcasting, to everything else that becomes implicated on the international scale, is a lot to sift through when negotiating and determining the best strategy to allow for the best outcome for all involved so that a select few professional athletes can go to the Olympics. Compromise is a lot easier said than achieved, as evidenced by the lack of MLBers and NHLers at the Olympics. Plus, there are things as simple as travel arrangements for players (planes, hotels, ground transportation once in host country, etc.) and, like I said before, things as complex as international broadcasting rights, plus the use of player likeness.
The actual logistics of parlaying an Olympic appearance to a foothold in international markets are something that maybe some MLB and NHL execs could reach out to their NBA counterparts and ask for advice on how to navigate the international waters. But, they most likely won’t ask, and even if they do ask, they will probably only receive vague answers. Or they’ll just get a super generic: “promote the shit out of the individual stars” – a model that has worked incredibly well in the NBA.
This model has the potential to be an easy game plan for the MLB. There is already a heavy emphasis on individual players, on both sides of the mound. And there is already a relatively strong global foothold for baseball to tap into. But marketing and tv rights are underutilized both in the US and globally. Yes, that global presence of baseball already includes Japan. As the next Olympics is to be held in Tokyo, MLB needs to realize the opportunity to expand upon that presence and it needs to capitalize on it. But how can the MLB expand internationally when it's having trouble at home? This is going to oversimplify it, but again it’s going to be to look to the marketing machine of the NFL and to the NBA. When something happens in the NFL or in the NBA, you see it EVERYWHERE. From traditional broadcast channels running highlights to viral videos, gifs and memes on social media. And let’s be real, its social media, the medium of choice for the younger generations, that connects the global markets a hell of a lot more than Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN (no matter how much revenue that deal brings in).
The NHL also has the ability to tap into the international presence of the game of hockey, but that presence is mostly in Scandinavian and former Soviet Bloc countries. And while the NHL claims it wants to expand into Asian markets, it missed an opportunity to showcase its talent in PyeongChang. Now, I know there were a lot of sport business/money reasons behind that decision but, on its face, the NHL not sending its players to an Olympics held in an Asian country seems incredibly contradictory to the idea of wanting to expand to new markets. But, the NHL as a whole, and then each team, and even down to some individual players, have begun to utilize social media in a more effective way that will help the league domestically and if they play their cards right, internationally.
So I don't have all of the answers for how to make it work from the business perspective, but you can't say that you want to grow the game, the fan base, and expand to new markets, when you ignore an existing platform, a platform that comes around every four years, that allows you to do just that.✌
Comments
Post a Comment