Baseball Around the World

8

2009 WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC™ SCHEDULE OF GAMESROUnD 1 Double Elimination

Date GaMe Match-up local et

thurs, March 5 Game 1 china vs. Japan 6:30pm 4:30am

Fri, March 6 Game 2 chinese taipei vs. Korea 6:30pm 4:30am

Sat, March 7 Game 3 Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser 12:30pm 10:30pm (Fri)

Sat, March 7 Game 4 Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner 7pm 5am

Sun, March 8 Game 5 Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 loser 6:30pm 5:30am

Mon, March 9 pool Final Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner 6:30pm 5:30am

POOL A Tokyo Dome Tokyo, Japan

Date GaMe Match-up local et

Sat, March 7 Game 1 canada vs. uSa 2pm 2pm

Sat, March 7 Game 2 Italy vs. Venezuela 8pm 8pm

Sun, March 8 Game 3 Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner 8pm 8pm

Mon, March 9 Game 4 Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser 6:30pm 6:30pm

tues, March 10 Game 5 Game 4 Winner vs. Game 3 loser 5pm 5pm

Wed, March 11 pool Final Game 3 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner 6:30pm 6:30pm

POOL C Rogers Centre Toronto, Canada

ROUnD 2 Double Elimination

Date GaMe Match-up local et

Sun, March 15 Game 1 pool a Winner vs. pool B Runner-up 1pm 4pm

Sun, March 15 Game 2 pool B Winner vs. pool a Runner-up 8pm 11pm

Mon, March 16 Game 3 Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser 8pm 11pm

tues, March 17 Game 4 Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner 8pm 11pm

Wed, March 18 Game 5 Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 loser 8pm 11pm

thurs, March 19 Game 6 Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner 6pm 9pm

POOL 1 PETCO Park San Diego, California

Date GaMe Match-up local et

Sat, March 14 Game 1 pool c Winner vs. pool D Runner-up 1pm 1pm

Sat, March 14 Game 2 pool D Winner vs. pool c Runner-up 8pm 8pm

Sun, March 15 Game 3 Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser 7:30pm 7:30pm

Mon, March 16 Game 4 Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner 8pm 8pm

tues, March 17 Game 5 Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 loser 7pm 7pm

Wed, March 18 Game 6 Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner 7pm 7pm

POOL 2 Dolphin Stadium Miami, Florida

SEMIFInALS & FInALS Single Elimination

Date GaMe Match-up local et

Sat, March 21 Semifinal 1 pool 2 Winner vs. pool 1 Runner-up 6pm 9pm

Sun, March 22 Semifinal 2 pool 1 Winner vs. pool 2 Runner-up 5pm 8pm

Mon, March 23 Final championship Game 6:30pm 9:30pm

FInALS Dodger Stadium Los Angeles, California

For up-to-date information, please visit: worldbaseballclassic.com

Date GaMe Match-up local et

Sun, March 8 Game 1 cuba vs. South africa 1pm 3pm

Sun, March 8 Game 2 australia vs. Mexico 8pm 10pm

Mon, March 9 Game 3 Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser 8pm 10pm

tues, March 10 Game 4 Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner 8pm 10pm

Wed, March 11 Game 5 Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 loser 8pm 10pm

thurs, March 12 pool Final Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner 7pm 9pm

POOL B FORO SOL STADIUM Mexico City, Mexico

Date GaMe Match-up local et

Sat, March 7 Game 1 Dominican Republic vs. Netherlands 12pm 11am

Sat, March 7 Game 2 panama vs. puerto Rico 6pm 5pm

Sun, March 8 Game 3 Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser 4:30pm 4:30pm

Mon, March 9 Game 4 Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner 6:30pm 6:30pm

tues, March 10 Game 5 Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 loser 6:30pm 6:30pm

Wed, March 11 pool Final Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner 5pm 5pm

POOL D Hiram Bithorn Stadium San Juan, Puerto Rico

Schedule is subject to change.MLB InternatIonaL DIrectorycentraL offIce (New York)(phone +1-212-931-7500)245 park avenue New York, NY 10167, united States

Paul Archey, Senior Vp, International Business operations

BroaDcast operatIonsRussell Gabay, Vice president & executive producer

BroaDcast saLesFrank Uddo, Vice president, International Broadcasting

gaMe DeveLopMentMike McClellan, program Manager, Game Development

LIcensIngDenis nolan, Vice president, licensing

sponsorshIp & coMMunIcatIonsDominick Balsamo, Senior Director, Sponsorship & communications

WorLD BaseBaLL cLassIc, Inc.James Pearce, tournament Director

regIonaL offIces

austraLIa & oceanIa(phone: +61 2 9238-2292)level 57, MlB centre19-29 Martin placeSydney, australia NSW 2000Tom nicholson, Director

chIna(phone: +86 10 8523-3020)level is Ncl towerNo. 12 a Jianguomenwai avechaoyang DistrictBeijing, china 100022Mike Marone, Manager

europe, MIDDLe east anD afrIca(phone: +44 20 7453-7000)anel house74a charlotte Streetlondon W1t 4QJ, united KingdomClive Russell, Director

japan (phone: +81 3 3507-5799)Masonic 39 Mt Building SF2-4-5 azabidai, Minato - Kutokyo, Japan 106-0041Jim Small, Managing Director and Vice president, asia

National Rivalries Set to Heat Up in 2009 World Baseball Classic

T h e O f f i c i a l i n T e r n a T i O n a l n e w s l e T T e r O f M a j O r l e a g u e B a s e B a l l ✯ f a l l 2 0 0 8

T he ScheDule haS BeeN Set, tIcKetS have gone on sale and baseball players from the 16 participating countries are eagerly awaiting another chance to repre-

sent their homelands in the hopes of becoming the 2009 World Baseball classic champions.

Defending tournament champion team Japan will open the second World Baseball classic against team china in the tokyo Dome on March 5, 2009, followed by chinese taipei taking on 2006 Semi-Finalist team Korea the next day. Fans in Mexico city are already gearing up for their first day of games on Sunday, March 8, with 2006 Runner-up cuba squaring off against

South africa and hometown favorite team Mexico tak-ing on australia. players on team u.S.a. will seek to avenge their 2006 loss to team canada in the first game matinee at the Rogers centre in toronto on March 7, while Venezuela and Italy have drawn one another for the nightcap. the Dominican Republic will begin its quest for the championship against the Kingdom of the Netherlands on Saturday, March 7 in San Juan's hiram Bithorn Stadium, while puerto Rico faces panama in front of what is sure to be an excited home crowd. lead-ing off with these initial match-ups, the first two rounds of the tournament will follow a double-elimination format – for the full schedule, see page 8.

faLL cLassIc 'phan-tastIc'

T he 2008 world series celebrated many firsts for MlB clubs, players

and fans around the world. The 2008 world series champion Philadelphia Phillies knocked out the Brewers and Dodgers on their way to defeating a tal-ented, young american league champion, the Tampa Bay rays, in the rays’ first world series in franchise history.

The 2008 postseason pro-vided a veritable showcase of international baseball players. The city of sydney, australia enthusiastically watched as their own grant Balfour be-came the first australian since graeme lloyd in 1996 to reach the world series. Teammates akinori iwamura and carlos Peña earned cheers in their homelands, japan and the Do-minican republic, respectively. Panamanian catcher carlos ruiz made a lasting impres-sion as his single during the bottom of the ninth inning of game Three marked the first world series walk-off by a Phil-lies player ever. Overall, the five-game series concluded a great season leaving baseball fans everywhere excited for what’s to come in 2009.

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2008 player nationalities

Baseball Around the World

BaLtIMore orIoLes canada, cuba, Dominican rep., Puerto rico, united states, Venezuela

chIcago cuBs canada, Dominican rep., japan, Puerto rico, united states, Venezuela

atLanta Braves australia, cuba, curacao, Dominican rep., germany, Mexico, Panama, Puerto rico, uK, united states, Venezuela

Boston reD sox canada, Dominican rep., jamaica, japan, nicaragua, Puerto rico, united states, Venezuela

arIzona DIaMonDBacks Dominican rep., Mexico, united states, Venezuela

2

Mastercard International and member bank, Banco provincial – BBVa, ran a World Series promotion in Venezuela from august 15 through September 28, offering a grand prize trip to the 2008 World Series. targeted specifically to card users, the program was heavily promoted by a significant cable and free-to-air tV plan, including during eSpN International broadcasts of Major league Baseball games airing in Venezuela. additional support was provided by print, radio, statement inserts and poS within bank locations.

MastercarD anD Banco provIncIaL take carD hoLDers to the 2008 WorLD serIes

the 2009 WoRlD BaSeBall claSSIc aDVeRtISING caMpaIGN to support the November 17 launch of ticket sales for Round 1 consisted of print, radio, online and out-of-home creative elements. english, Spanish and Japanese language print was placed throughout the venue regions, as

well as in the toronto Sun and toronto Star. Radio spots, tagged with ticket purchase information, were put into heavy rotation in top stations in toronto. using the tagline “Behind every play, a nation," the campaign evokes the spirit of nationalistic competition embodied by the World Baseball classic.

on May 6, 2008, Dodger short-stop Chin-lung Hu and Dodger pitcher Hong-Chih Kuo be-came the first two taiwanese players to hit consecutively in a big league game, adding to the long list of taiwanese “firsts” the club has spawned, starting in 2002 when Dodger outfielder Chin-Feng Chen became the first taiwanese player in MlB history.

fun fact

Behind Every Play, A Nation

2008 player nationalities

Game Development

T he MlB inTerna TiOnal acaDeMy Program has been a resounding success since its inception in australia in 2001. MlBi

currently operates three academies dedicated to helping elite junior players prepare for the rigors of professional and international baseball – a goal that has most definitely been achieved, as demonstrated by the more than 150 academy graduates who have signed contracts with MlB organizations over the past eight years. austraLIan acaDeMy the MlB australian academy celebrated its ninth year in 2008, with 75 players contracted to professional teams and another 41 playing for u.S. colleges. Brad harman, a 2003 academy grad, made his MlB debut with the World Series champion philadelphia phillies on april 22, becoming the 26th australian to play in the Major leagues. luke hughes and Scott campbell played for the World team at the all-Star Futures Game, and campbell appears poised to become the first New Zealander to make it to a big league roster. Ryan Searle began the 2008 season at the academy,

chIcago WhIte sox colombia, cuba, Dominican rep., Mexico, Puerto rico, united states, Venezuela

DeveLopIng BaseBaLL In DeLhIthis past october, Major league Baseball conducted the first-ever MlB India coach certification course, an introductory course held in New Delhi at Jesus and Mary college. thirty-three (33) participants attended the course, learning various coaching meth-ods and baseball rules over a morning classroom session and an afternoon field session. By the end of the clinic, all partici-pants had a deeper understand-ing of the game and the nuances of coaching technique.

the event was organized by Indian baseball representative anoop Kumar, whose long-term relationship with the par-ticipants will allow for MlB’s instruction to have a lasting impact. During the course, the Indian coaches learned to adapt to pitching baseballs instead of cricket balls. MlB International sees great potential in this region and has plans for a spe-cialized course for pitchers and catchers in the near future.

cLeveLanD InDIans Dominican rep., indonesia, japan, south Korea, united states, Venezuela

DetroIt tIgerscolombia, Dominican rep., Puerto rico, united states, Venezuela

cIncInnatI reDscanada, colombia, Dominican rep., Mexico, Puerto rico, united states, Venezuela

coLoraDo rockIes canada, Dominican rep., Mexico, Panama, united states, Venezuela

MLB Academies Develop Global Talent

granDerson journeys to far east

C urtis Granderson, center fielder for the Detroit tigers, made his third appearance as an MlB International ambassador this october when

he became the first current MlB player to tour china promoting the game of baseball. Granderson, who has represented MlB in europe (2006) and South africa (2007), conducted clinics and appeared on World Series broad-casts in Shanghai and Beijing , instructing players and fans on how to make it to the big leagues.

but finished pitching in Single-a for the chicago cubs, the first academy player to go directly from the Gold coast to the Minor leagues.chIna acaDeMy For three weeks this September, MlBI conducted its second china academy in Wuxi. the academy's in-novative coaching methods, based in part on the MlB Fall Instructional league, expose players to special-ized training techniques in defensive positions and hitting instruction. this year's academy consisted of 59 elite junior players and five chinese coaches, led by an MlB staff. european acaDeMy Fifty-five (55) talented young players from 14 countries in africa, europe and the Middle east recently com-pleted training at the european academy in tirrenia, Italy. players received daily coaching from an all-Star MlB coaching staff that included Rod carew, Barry larkin, Bruce hurst and lee Smith. Scouts from 13 MlB clubs were on hand to evaluate the talent. to date, 27 european academy graduates have signed professional contracts with MlB organizations.

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australian academy alum, luke hughes, was the starting 3rd baseman for the world Team at the 2008 XM all-star future game.

former MlB all-star, Barry larkin, served as lead instructor at the 2008 european academy.

granderson provides hitting instruction to members of the shanghai eagles, a team in the china Baseball league.

2008 player nationalities

Banco BhD & MLB: a WInnIng teaM

Banco BhD, the official Bank of MlB in the Dominican Republic, ran two exciting promotions in the first year of its sponsorship, send-ing customers to the all-Star Game and World Series. to win a chance to attend the 2008 all-Star Game or the 2008 World Series, fans had to apply for and activate the newly-launched, co-branded MlB Banco BhD Mastercard. Banco BhD complemented these promotions by taking the top players from the MlB Dominican Summer league to see the New York Mets take on the atlanta Braves at turner Field this summer, where they met cur-rent all-Stars Jose Reyes, carlos Delgado and David Wright. MlBI looks forward to more great things to come through this valuable part-nership with Banco BhD.

For 2009, MlB has formed a part-nership with Frito-lay as an official Sponsor in puerto Rico. Frito-lay will be using 10 brands, includ-ing lays, tostitos and Doritos, to promote their MlB sponsorship. Major league Baseball will be prominently featured throughout the season on millions of bags of various Frito-lay brands sold across the island each month.

T HIS FALL, MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL AnD PEPSI HAvE TEAMED UP TO BRInG THE GAME OF BASEBALL to fans in the Dominican Republic and puerto Rico. With a plethora of games, prizes and other attractions, children and adults from these two caribbean countries gathered to learn more about the sport and their

favorite players.Pepsi Sponsors 2008 Major League Baseball Festival in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

home to some of the most passionate baseball fans in the world, the Dominican Re-public hosted the MlB Festival this past october in Santo Domingo. MlB partnered with pepsi to bring over 10,000 fans to the capital city over the five-day event. centered on the 2008 World Series, pepsi and MlB tested local fans’ baseball skills in batting cages, a pitching tunnel, a running game and a mini-baseball field.

In addition, pepsi and MlB provided live-entertainment, a World Series watch-party and a car give-away; an interactive video zone, an official MlB store, baseball trivia games and other prize give-aways, as well as a pepsi stage-area where free drinks were distributed to all who attended. additional partners on the event included Gatorade, Banco BhD and cDN, who, combined with pepsi, put on a tremendously successful event.

Pepsi Sponsors MLB Pitch, Hit & Run Competition in Puerto RicoMlBI once again joined forces with pepsi to provide youth across puerto Rico with an opportunity to participate in an exciting baseball skills competition. the competition spans three weekends in carolina, Guaynobo and aguadilla. top three finishers from two age groups (9/10 and 11/12-year olds) will move on to the National Final in mid-December, where pepsi, along with other sponsors t-Mobile, chrysler, universal Insurance and el Nuevo Dia, will send two lucky winners – one in each age group – to the 2009 all-Star Game in St. louis.

Marketing & Sponsorship

Pepsi Helps Spread Game Across Caribbean

From august 4 through September 30, anheuser-Busch International led a branding campaign throughout panama promoting their official part-nership with Major league Baseball. participants turned in bottle crowns at designated centers to

exchange for prizes. the campaign focused on a grand prize trip to World Series Game three and was supported by tV, print and radio. the promo-tion received widespread media coverage and increased consumer participation.

anheuser-Busch BrIngs WorLD serIes to panaMa frIto Lay joIns MLB In puerto rIco

4

kansas cIty royaLs Dominican rep., japan, Mexico, united states, Venezuela

Los angeLes DoDgers canada, curacao, Dominican rep., japan, Mexico, south Korea, Taiwan, united states

houston astros Dominican rep., japan, Mexico, Panama, Puerto rico, united states, Venezuela

L.a. angeLs of anaheIM australia, cuba, Dominican rep., Mexico, united states, Venezuela

fLorIDa MarLInsDominican rep.,Mexico, netherlands, united states, Venezuela

young athlete participates in Pepsi MlB Pitch, hit and run.

2008 player nationalities

Marketing & Sponsorship Marketing & Sponsorship

M aSteRcaRD INteRNatIoNal Japan Inc. partnered with aoyama capital co., ltd. to

run an exciting promotion for three months this Spring. From January 15 to april 30, aoyama Sales rep-resentatives signed customers to the "aoyama Mastercard," a new co-branded credit card.

the aoyama Master card tour proved to be a resounding success, with nearly 180,000 customers sign-ing up for the new card. In addition, the 15 aoyama sales representatives who signed the highest number of new card-holders won a trip to Seattle to attend a Major league Baseball game in Seattle at Safeco Field and participate in a stadium tour. Based on the successful execution of both the campaign and the tour of Seattle and Safeco Field, aoyama capital and Mastercard have already decided to run the campaign again next year.

fans In japan eager to pItch, hIt & runon august 20, MlB pitch hit & Run visited Japan for a second time, with this year’s event tak-ing place in Nagaragawa Base-ball Stadium.

over 400 participants ages 7 to 14 were welcomed by chi-cago cub rookie Kosuke Fuku-dome, who encouraged them to enjoy the MlB experience, via the jumbotron.

the winners from each age group won a trip to experience an MlB game in May.

this year’s event brought in new media partners, tokai tV and caSIo, along with sev-eral local sponsors: Global home, hoken Soudan center and telecom Number 1. Na-tional sponsors Mizuno and Sports authority returned again this year, providing much excitement in their booths for the participants to enjoy.

Aoyama and MasterCard Go On Tour

M lB INteRNatIoNal expaNDeD the Dream BIG marketing campaign across Japan in 2008 with strategically-placed

tagged advertising in publications targeting chil-dren, women and a wide-range of baseball fans.

In its February 8 issue, Infant, a national free monthly publication targeting mothers, announced open auditions at the MlB clubhouse Store in tokyo for readers to win the chance to appear on the cover of the June 13 issue. Orange Page placed Dream BIG ad-vertising alongside editorial pages that focused on MlB products in their February 17 and June 17 issues.

Walker, a local community publication distrib-uted in seven major cities, featured Dream BIG advertising, showcasing all-Stars such as David Wright, Ichiro Suzuki and World Series champion Ryan howard. Sports Graphic Number, Japan’s pre-mier sports magazine, and Monthly Major League, an MlB-licensed magazine, also featured the campaign throughout the season.

For the final stage of the campaign, MlBI placed three advertisements featuring MlB merchandise to showcase casual lifestyle products. Several pub-lications, including Orange Page, Como, Seventeen, Hana*chu, Street Jack, Smart and Sports Graphic Num-ber, supported Dream BIG with advertisments and ar-ticles featuring interviews with MlB global licensees Majestic athletic and New era cap company.

japan DreaMs BIgger In 2008

Winning Aoyama sales reps enjoy an MLB game in Seattle at Safeco Field.

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MILWaukee BreWers canada, Dominican rep., Mexico, Puerto rico, united states, Venezuela

neW yorkMets cuba, Dominican rep., Mexico, Puerto rico, united states, Venezuela

oakLanD athLetIcs canada, Dominican rep., Puerto rico, united states, Venezuela

MInnesota tWIns canada, cuba, Dominican rep., Mexico, Puerto rico, united states, Venezuela

neW york yankees aruba, cuba, Dominican rep., japan, Mexico, Panama, Puerto rico, Taiwan, united states, Venezuela

2008 player nationalities

MLB goes MoBILe

Licensing

E VeRSpoRtS MaRKetING ltD. INtRoDuceD the first MlB flagship store in china this sum-mer. the two-floor store is located on a busy

commercial street in xiamen city and occupies ap-proximately 350 square meters. the first floor show-cases a broad range of MlB merchandise, including baseball equipment, jerseys, caps, fashion apparel and baseball magazines, while the second floor acts as a sports lounge for baseball fans. the MlB store has become a unique shopping experience in xiamen, attracting both baseball fans as well as consumers interested in the latest fashion trends. Since april 2007, eversports has opened 55 MlB store locations throughout china and is expecting to open 10 more locations before the end of 2008.

MLB Flagship Store Opens in China

New Era Expands in the UK and Germany

MLB noW off anD runnIng In europe

n eW eRa cap coMpaNY INc., the pReMIeR global headwear designer, developer and manufacturer, and an MlB licensee, opened

its second european flagship store in the major uK city of Birmingham on July 26, 2008. Just weeks after the one-year anniversary of the london flagship store, New era now turns its eye to its second major flagship retail space in the midlands area of england. corpora-tion Street, one of the busiest streets in the heart of Birmingham's shopping district, offers a haven of retail outlets in a central location of the city centre.

the opening of New era Birmingham was swiftly followed by the opening of a third european flagship store in the German capital of Berlin on august 2, 2008 in the hugely popular area of hackeschen Market at Spandauer Bricke 7.

New era Birmingham and New era Berlin will feature the broadest and most exclusive selection of New era headwear in the world. a mixture of designs will adorn the company’s signature fitted baseball cap, the 59FIFtY, as well as over 250 adjustable cap styles, and the latest authentic collection in the new performance fabric material.

Major league Baseball has partnered with taiwanese li-censee, Smart Media, to intro-duce MlB team-logoed mobile phones and accessories. Mobile phones fea-turing the logos of the Yankees, Dodg-ers and Red Sox were launched over the summer exclusively for distribution in taiwan. the mobile phones are avail-able in black, gold or silver.

NeW lIceNSee, MaJoR leaGue BRaNDS, WIll Be RetaIlING MlB lIceNSeD NoN-ReplIca apparel and headwear in the australian market beginning in November 2008. they will also be the new distributor of Majestic replica gear.

Now in the sell-in phase of the launch, a-Mart (a national retailer with 78 stores) has signed up for the line and will be featuring it in their summer catalogue. the New York Yankees, los angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, chicago White Sox, atlanta Braves, cleveland Indians and Detroit tigers will be featured in the initial line.

“Major League BranDs” neW LIcensee In austraLIa

MlB has taken a major new step in licensing in europe with the introduc-tion of an extensive range of footwear by Siport. the Italian shoe special-ist will launch the range of casual footwear in Spring 2009 at retailers across europe.

the MlB Road Show appeared at the 2008 Beijing chaoyang International tourism and culture Festival during china’s golden week holiday. More than 150,000 visitors participated in the various attractions including bat-ting, pitching, and t-ball cages where participants learned how to throw and hit baseballs.

roaD shoW a hIt WIth fans In chIna

MlB Merchandise displayed in new free-standing store in china

Visitors stop by to enjoy the MlB road shownew era's second european flagship store in Birmingham, england

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san DIego paDres australia, colombia, japan, nicaragua, south Korea, united states, u.s. Virgin islands, Venezuela

st. LouIs carDInaLs Dominican rep., Mexico, Puerto rico, united states, Venezuela

pIttsBurgh pIrates canada, Dominican rep., Mexico, united states, Venezuela

san francIsco gIants Dominican rep., japan, Puerto rico, united states, Venezuela

phILaDeLphIa phILLIes australia, canada, Dominican rep., japan, Mexico, Panama, Puerto rico, united states, Venezuela

2008 player nationalities

M lB NetWoRK, WhIch lauNcheS IN 50 million homes in January 2009, is set to air 16 games of the 2009

World Baseball classic live this March, along with a nightly studio show dedicated to the world’s premier international baseball tourna-ment. World Baseball Classic Tonight, which will debut in late February, will feature high-lights, analysis, feature stories and special reports on the tournament, its teams, play-ers and coaches. MlB Network also will air the World Baseball Classic Selection Show, a studio show reporting on the announcement of the rosters.

Broadcasting Licensing

Major league Baseball has signed a new broadcast deal with Fox Sports in australia. the contract covers the 2008, ’09 and ’10 seasons and includes exclusive coverage of postsea-son play. the new deal allows for an expansion of coverage to six games per week.

In addition to Fox Sports, eSpN australia and Sky tV New Zealand also broadcast Major league Baseball in the australia/New Zealand region.

MaJoR leaGue BaSeBall INteRNatIoNal reached historic agreements with Shang-hai Media Group (SMG) and Beijing tele-

vision (BtV) this year to air the games of the 2008 World Series. the World Series broadcast on Shang-hai Media Group built upon MlBI's 2007 agreement and gave MlB continued exposure to tens of millions of fans in the greater Shanghai area. MlBI also achieved historic inroads with Beijing television to air Games one and two of the World Series on BtV-6, Beijing's dedicated sports network.

MlB's relationship with SMG began in 2007, as SMG broadcasted the 2007 all-Star Game from San Francisco, california. Baseball coverage on SMG continued over the remainder of the 2007 sea-son, with SMG airing weekly Mandarin episodes of "this Week In Baseball," to which SMG added

china-specific segments. MlBI's relationship with SMG continued through 2008, culminating in an unforgettable 2008 Fall classic between the phil-lies and Rays.

this year, MlBI broadcast the 2008 Fall classic in 13 languages to 229 countries and territories around the world. these strategic partnerships in china have provided MlBI the opportunity to deliver exciting baseball content to a growing fan base in the world's most populous nations.

MlBI and Meridiano television in Venezuela have agreed to extend their broadcast part-nership for another two sea-sons. Venezuelan fans will be able to catch MlB games on Meridiano tV through the end of the 2010 season.

For the 2009-2010 seasons, Meridiano will be the exclu-sive over-the-air television broadcaster in the territory.they will telecast eight games per week during the regular season as well as the all-Star Game, and all Division Series, league championship Series and World Series games.

neW fox sports DeaL InkeD DoWn unDer

fans across chIna catch the WorLD serIes

MerIDIano sIgns on through 2010

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seattLe MarIners australia, canada, cuba, curacao, Dominican rep., japan, Puerto rico, south Korea, united states, Venezuela

taMpa Bay rays australia, Dominican rep., germany, japan, south Korea, united states, Venezuela

WashIngton natIonaLs canada, curacao, Dominican rep., Mexico, Puerto rico, united states, Venezuela

texas rangers aruba, Dominican rep., japan, Mexico, nicaragua, Puerto rico, united states, Venezuela

toronto BLue jayscanada, Dominican rep., united states, Venezuela

E SpN INteRNatIoNal WIll BRoaDcaSt all 39 games of the 2009 tournament out-side of the united States, to 167 countries

within latin america, europe, the Middle east, africa and australia. along with international rights, eSpN will share u.S. broadcast rights with MlB Network, televising 23 games, including the Semi-Final and Final Games, across eSpN and eSpN 2, and on its Spanish-language platform eSpN Deportes. eSpN’s agreement includes english and Spanish radio broadcast rights as well as digital rights, in-cluding the live-streaming of games on eSpN360.com. Stay tuned for agreements with over-the-air partners worldwide, which will be announced in the coming weeks.

MLB netWork tofeature the 2009 WorLD BaseBaLL cLassIc

espn anD espn InternatIonaL

to BroaDcast 2009 cLassIc

arounD the WorLD