"Obviously we have commitments to Fox in terms of the All-Star Game in the middle of the season through '28. As the game continues to evolve, we have talked about midseason tournaments in general. And certainly if we decided to get serious about this, about a midseason tournament, this would be an ideal opportunity."
"This year's WBC drew 1,619,839 fans for 47 games, a 24% increase over the previous high of 1,306,414 in 2023. The initial tournament in 2006 drew 740,451 for 39 games."
"There's no resemblance to where we started in 2006. This one, I feel like it went to a different level. We set an attendance record after the early play. By the time we got into the semis and the final it was all gravy."
The World Baseball Classic has achieved unprecedented success with 1,619,839 fans attending 47 games in 2024, a 24% increase from 2023. Viewership records were also broken, with the semifinal between the United States and Dominican Republic drawing 7.37 million viewers on FS1 and Fox Deportes, surpassing the previous high of 5.2 million from the 2023 final. Commissioner Rob Manfred announced the tournament will return in 2029 or 2030 and indicated potential relocation to midseason play, which would allow greater player participation by reducing team restrictions and pitch count limitations currently imposed during spring training. Since its 2006 inception, the WBC has evolved significantly, establishing itself as a truly global baseball competition.
#world-baseball-classic #tournament-scheduling #attendance-records #broadcast-viewership #international-baseball
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