Major Sports Overseas

In case some people didn't know already, the 2008 Major League Baseball Season officially began this past Tuesday, March 25. The game was between the Boston Red Sox and the Oakland Athletics. Now normally this would be all fine and dandy and not be all that relevant to anyone. But this game wasn't played in Boston. It wasn't played in Oakland either. It was played in Japan. This was the third instance now in which the MLB has opened the regular season in Japan. Which begs the question, will all major sports be played overseas if there are enough fans and these leagues continue to see increased revenues?

As an avid baseball, football and basketball fan I am selfish. I want every game in every sport that is from America, to be played in America. I don't care whether or not the major sports in our country see financial benefits and their fan bases increase if they go overseas. I don't want that. But that is not the way the these major sports leagues view it. They are corporate run companies with corporate interests like we talked about in class. All they want is money and they want as much of it as they can get their greedy hands on while maintaining and increasing their fan bases.

Just last year the NFL played their first regular game overseas between the Giants and Dolphins at Whembley Stadium in England. Again, I am not a fan of these changes and I wish that every game in every sport every year, could be played in our country, where these sports were founded. But with globalization in full force the sports that we know and love could some day be stripped from right underneath us. As far-fetched as that may sound now, it could happen one day. I hope it doesn't, but it could.