Report: D-backs, Dodgers possibly opening ’14 season down under
Oct 25, 2012, 2:05 PM | Updated: 3:09 pm
According to a report in Thursday’s edition of the Sydney Morning Herald, MLB, Destination New South Wales and Australian Baseball League officials have been working on an event which would allow the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers to open the 2014 campaign with a three-game series at Sydney Cricket Ground.
However, MLB is denying the report.
“We are not currently exploring the possibility with the Dodgers or any team to play in Australia,” Pat Courtney, MLB’s senior vice president of public relations, said Thursday in an article that appears on Stuff.co.nz.
The MLB season has started overseas several times, including this year when the Oakland A’s and Seattle Mariners played a two-game series at the Tokyo Dome in Japan.
According to the reports, Sydney organizers have been working on the event for six years, and if it comes to fruition, could be a huge boon to the local economy and the profile of baseball in Australia.
The proposed three-game series will be a huge coup for Australian sport, with the games to be televised to an audience of almost 300 million viewers across 81 countries. It’s estimated the event will attract up to 25,000 overseas tourists and generate $80 million for the NSW economy.
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