How MLB is taking cues from Japan, NBA and IPL to 'pitch' in growing Indian sports market

When the bell rings in Indian schools, most kids run out of the classrooms in a jiffy and form a huddle to have fun with fellow students over a game of cricket. And some 3,700 miles away in Japan, children share a similar emotion during breaks or right after they leave school. They share the same adrenaline rush. The same enthusiasm too. Also with a bat and a ball. But for baseball.

It may not be a religion in the island country, but the Japanese are crazy about baseball. Mind you, they take immense pride in being one of the world’s top baseball-crazy nations. Fairly similar to India's love for cricket. The similarities are there for everyone to see.

Introduced over a century ago, baseball was a foreign sport in Japan. With barely any outside influence, the country got hooked on to the sport only via television. Like Major League Baseball (MLB), Japan introduced its own league in the mid-90s called the Japanese Baseball League (JBL) before the establishment of a two-league format known as Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) in 1950.

“Baseball was on TV during primetime, so the father would watch baseball, the kids and the wife would naturally have to sit there and watch baseball because that's all they had. That's the only content they have. They don't have various platforms. We didn't have the internet. We didn't have YouTube. We didn't have social media. And so everybody spends time together, the family spend time together watching TV. On TV? It was baseball,” says Japan’s Ryo Takahashi, who heads the business and commercial operations for MLB in India.

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MLB's 'First Pitch' in India

Not too long ago, the MLB celebrated its one-year anniversary in India. In 2019, the league established its sixth international office, this time in Delhi. The five other overseas MLB offices are in countries where baseball is hugely popular – Japan, Mexico, China and the Dominican Republic. Over the course of 12 months, MLB conducted baseball sessions in 320 schools across the country, with Mumbai, New Delhi and Bengaluru being their first three target cities as part of its First Pitch program. "The response was so good that the kids wanted Takahashi and his team to come back the next day," he says proudly.

During the First Pitch program, MLB India helped kids understand the basic rules and similarities with cricket. Football grounds were used to explain positioning and gameplay. The kids were provided baseballs, bats, helmets and gloves. “Despite the constraints due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the biggest takeaway was the relationships that we were able to build. Obviously, on the business side, we were able to establish and continue to build on the relationships with our partners that run the MLB First Pitch program,” Takahashi says.

In return, the workshops helped MLB understand the key points to consider before they plan to put a system in place for a long-term sporting project. With cricket being the most popular sport in the country, Indian kids do have an advantage over others around the world. “Kids already know how to swing their bat, catch and throw the ball. It is a unique advantage. They already know how to make a good catch or a good throw,” said David Palese, Head of Baseball Development in India.

After all, baseball is not quite alien to Indians. A few of them know about Craig Gillespie's Million Dollar Arm, where sports agent JB Bernstein selects two athletes from India – Dinesh Patel and Rinku Singh – out of 37,000 participants via a reality TV show and takes them to the US. The duo had absolutely no knowledge about baseball, yet, months later, MLB's Pittsburgh Pirates signed both of them.

Unfortunately, they couldn't ruffle too many feathers in the top leagues. But the movie hinted that India could be a fantastic market to tap into. It was time for MLB to act.

There won’t be a dramatic emergence of a superstar in the sport just yet but Takahashi and his team are mindful of the challenges Indians will face to reach the top. He doesn’t feel bogged down by the prospect of promoting a brand new sport in a cricket-obsessed nation. In fact, cricket could do MLB a huge favour. “We like to think that the fact that cricket is king in this country is an advantage for us. But by no means are we trying to replicate what cricket is or means to this country or replace it by any means. Obviously, we can become as popular as cricket. We're doing something right," he explains.

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The Far East Movement

Takahashi's vision is to first introduce the sport by conducting fun sessions in schools. That's participation. Then comes retention, to make sure kids play the sport once a week via local competitions, followed by a robust broadcast. "That leads to the development of elite level players around the country. So, I think there's no specific order or magical formula that works in every country. But our strategy of making sure that we have participants, the content in the live events parallel with each other works. And that's something that we can see in Japan.”

Let's even take China for example. MLB began investing in the country in 2008 after understanding the sports market. They targeted local schools, a strong TV and digital broadcast setup and successfully got people hooked on to the sport via marketing. Nearly 12 years later, there are seven Chinese players playing professional baseball under contract with MLB teams. The number of baseball players in China increased from a few hundred thousand to close to 8 million in 2020.

“I've been introduced to a lot of the state federation heads and the people involved in each region. And you know, getting our name out there and virtually starting that conversation of this is who we are; this is what we want to do. These are the things that we're looking forward to doing in India on the ground and then understanding what their reality is, what you know, what infrastructure they have, the kind of players they have, the age-group level of play.”

Taking cues from Japan, NBA and other big leagues

Apart from the TV push, there has always been an inspiring sports culture in Japan, which is slightly different from that in India and the US. The sport’s popularity received a massive boost when Japanese corporations began sponsoring professional teams. “What we were looking for is to really understand the scheme of sports and how the government is involved in sports. How do schools run sports programs? How do broadcasters promote sports whether it's a new sport?”

Over the last few months, Takahashi had conversations with the franchise-based leagues in India – the IPL, PKL, PBL, UTT and ISL – to find out how they captured the attention of the entire nation. In this case, PKL’s content planning and marketing strategy stood out. “The Pro Kabaddi League became so big because it had such a good partnership with their broadcast partner and it became so popular because it was put out there in a way that was attractive to the new fan. That may not be a sports fan but someone who was looking for new content. Talking to our broadcast partners and the sports bodies here in different leagues has been fruitful.”

They are also taking cues from other Asian countries and have taken significant steps with the Amateur Baseball Federation of India (ABFI) and other state federations for clarity of infrastructure, government support and the technical level of players. Harish Kumar, the General Secretary of ABFI says, “MLB has been involved with different forms of grassroots development work in India since 2003. Over the years, we have had numerous visits by MLB coaches in India who have conducted many sessions across the country. We have discussed various initiatives that shall be implemented soon. We have a lot of potential in India and opportunities like this will help baseball players and coaches to improve themselves”.

Even here, broadcast, curiosity and participation hold the key to MLB's strategic approach. The curiosity among fans played an integral role in the gradual growth of the Premier League, NBA, PKL, PBL and others. According to research by Brand Finance, Indian football fans have a higher awareness of the Premier League and the Championship than other major European leagues.

The Indian Super League (ISL) has been experiencing its fair share of success in terms of fan engagement. To top this, India reportedly had over 2 lakh people playing the online Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game during the 2019-20 season. In June 2019, Star Sports were awarded the exclusive rights for all Premier League matches, secured for another three seasons through 2022.

Meanwhile, in October last year, the NBA held two pre-season games in Mumbai for the first time. Interestingly, India never hosted an international sports league's pre-season game before this. The long-term goal has always been to facilitate Indian representation at the elite level. A classic example would be how the NBA was successful in capturing the Chinese sports market with former Houston Rockets star Yao Ming. 

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Cut to 2020 and the NBA's growth in India so far is an ode to the time, effort and resources it has invested in the country. The country boasts of multiple offices spread across cities since the first office opened in Mumbai nine years ago. The NBA Academy India provides necessary training and scholarships. The trainees at the academy participate in tournaments, regular camps and try-outs in the US and other countries.

It is important to note that they have been backed by broadcaster Sony Pictures Networks India to expand NBA’s base. Just three years ago, fans were introduced to Hindi commentary to catch viewers' attention. The 2018-19 NBA season reportedly registered over 90 million viewers in India. In 2017, the NBA introduced two-time NBA champion Kevin Durant to the country.

Though Indian athletes are yet to break into these top leagues, both the Premier League and the NBA have stamped their authority on the Indian sports market.

A game of attention span

There is more to content than just sports. India is also developing its appetite for many forms of content. “Cricket has helped the decision of coming into the Indian market, but I think India has an appetite for sports and entertainment. The number of cell phones and Wi-Fi connections prove that. There is a high demand for TV shows on Netflix and Amazon Prime. The number of pro sports leagues are lined up for fans to consume," says Takahashi, who confirmed that the MLB will broadcast live games in India starting this year.

While it's a progressive move, is there scope of any traction in India? There are sceptics and roadblocks for MLB because of the perceived American nature of the sport. So, is there a plan in place to broadcast the current season?

MLB has a partnership with broadcaster Star Sports and FanCode – India’s first multi-sport aggregator platform by Dream Sports. Live matches will soon hit the television screens in India. There could be weekly shows to engage with fans and help them understand the nuances of the game. But Takahashi states that live games are not necessarily the answer to increasing baseball popularity as cricket fans are now shying away from the long Test matches.

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“The attention span of the younger generation is coming down as they are drawn to small snacking content,” he opines. “Nobody wants to watch the five, six-day games anymore. You can say the same thing about baseball and any other content. We want to watch 30 different things within 20 minutes. So we have to adapt the way we produce our content and put it onto our platforms. There's there are many ways to introduce baseball."
 

It is also important to note that the inquisitiveness of the people was key to the popularity of the sport in Japan. Such was the impact that 61 Japanese-born players have entered the MLB till now. Nine players are currently playing the regular season in the US. 

“I think we could learn from the process that Japan took in developing the game and no one was raising that awareness. It was increasing that participation number. So, if we make sure that there are opportunities for kids to participate in the game and get familiarised with it via TV, digital platforms and social media, we could get people to throw a baseball for the first time or swing a baseball with a baseball bat for the first time.”

That does not seem to be a distant dream for Indian kids as MLB plans to host another Million Dollar Arm contest to identify and nurture hidden talents. Takahashi is confident that Indians will fall in love with baseball despite the distraction posed by predominant leagues.

"But if Japan and China can do it, India has the potential to be bigger," Takahashi concludes. It's a big swing, some would say a million-dollar one. But such is the nature of the game. 

(Image courtesy: AP and Twitter)