TOKYO (AP) – The commissioner of Major League Baseball on Tuesday denied reports that 2017 would be the last edition of the World Baseball Classic, saying the tournament is as popular as ever.
The fourth edition of the tournament run by MLB and the players’ association began in Seoul on Monday. Japan will kick off its campaign on Tuesday against Cuba at Tokyo Dome.
Media reports in the U.S. suggested the 2017 tournament would be the last because of a lack of revenue. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said nothing could be further from the truth.
“The WBC will be broadcast in 182 countries,” Manfred said in Tokyo. “This will be a $100 million event over this brief less than two-week period. From Day 1, while it was a profitable event from the beginning, it has really grown in terms of its revenue significance and it’s popularity around the world.”
Japan won the tournament in 2006 and 2009 with a full complement of major league players, including Ichiro Suzuki, Yu Darvish and Daisuke Matsuzaka. But those big names sat out the 2013 version won by the Dominican Republic and Japan will field a team this year with just one major leaguer – Norichika Aoki of the Houston Astros.