Not an Olympic Sport?
CHETWYND, JOSH
Not an Olympic Sport? The International Olympic Committee has baseball on the chopping block. BY JOSH CHETWYND WHILE Major League Baseball and its players' union grabbed headlines last month by...
...This is happening slowly but surely in unexpected places...
...Games pitting the New York Yankees' Derek Jeter (playing for the United States) against the Boston Red Sox's Pedro Martinez (pitching for the Dominican Republic) would certainly be tantalizing television that could increase the "value" of the Olympics...
...Moreover, there are professional baseball leagues in Asia, South America, North America, and Europe...
...That is, if it happens: The recommendation from the Olympic Program Commission to cut baseball must first be accepted by the organization's executive board in late November, and then ratified by the IOC's general assembly...
...aware that without the support of baseball from government organizations, the game's nascent development here would be hindered...
...What baseball fans should realize is that as bad as a strike might have been, this would be worse...
...and should be punished...
...More than 110 countries play baseball—a number far above the 75 minimum the IOC sets for a sport's inclusion...
...The NHL temporarily stops its season to allow its best players to compete in the Olympics...
...And that's considerably higher than the 92 nations that play rugby, a sport now being recommended as a new Olympic event...
...I should know...
...BY JOSH CHETWYND WHILE Major League Baseball and its players' union grabbed headlines last month by successfully reaching a labor agreement, disturbing news regarding the future of the game was coming out of Switzerland...
...Even Iran and Pakistan have baseball federations...
...But even if Major League Baseball did agree to send top players, it's unclear how long that would last...
...Nobody at the IOC is admitting this...
...It's possible, of course, that the IOC just wants to pressure baseball powers to commit to sending their best players in order to further exploit the American television market—one of the key pots of gold that makes the Olympics the behemoth it is today...
...After all, soccer—the game Europeans spend most of their sporting energy on—doesn't send its best players to the Olympics, and there is no call for its ouster...
...Incidentally, IOC chief Jacques Rogge happens to be a former Belgian International Rugby player...
...The International Olympic Committee recently disclosed that it is considering dropping a number of sports, including baseball, America's national pastime, from its program for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China...
...We just saw the erosion of the "Dream Team" concept at the World Basketball Championships...
...These arguments ring pretty hollow...
...The baseball season occurs during the Olympics, which would make meeting that request logistically difficult but not impossible, as the National Hockey League has proven...
...Could baseball's Olympic jeopardy have something to do with the sport's central place in American culture, and with a belief among some in the IOC that Americans are arrogant Could baseball's Olympic jeopardy have something to do with the sport's central place in American culture...
...Luckily, no final decision has been made yet...
...So why is the IOC considering dropping baseball and its sister sport softball, among others, from its program...
...Still, you can't help but think that if baseball's roots weren't so closely aligned with America and Americans this wouldn't be an issue...
...Given the global nature of entertainment today, it is vital for baseball to branch out beyond its core audience...
...In just the past couple of years, players from countries like Germany and Russia have signed minor league contracts with major league teams, and even China recently established a professional league...
...The IOC also says America needs to send a "Dream Team" of top major leaguers to the Olympics (just as pro basketball has done since 1992...
...Team USA consisted of good but not elite NBA players, and lost three games en route to a dismal sixth-place finish...
...But look closely at the three main reasons given for axing baseball—its lack of worldwide popularity, the cost of building venues, and the fact that the best players don't participate in the Games...
...But for many emerging baseball nations, it is money provided by their national Olympic committees that is the key to the sport's growth...
...And the venue argument is also disingenuous: Many Olympic sports—think of cycling and its velodromes—require costly venue construction...
...As a member of the Great Britain National Baseball Team since 1996 (I was born in England, but grew up in the United States), I'm keenly Josh Chetwynd lives in London, where he co-hosts the British telecast Major League Baseball Live...
...Here's hoping the IOC will ultimately take the long view on the issue and see beyond any anti-American biases...
...Ultimately, baseball's Olympic situation probably comes down to money, on which some in the IOC appear to be wholly focused...
Vol. 8 • September 2002 • No. 3
