Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Media & Entertainment Law Blogs -> Sports Biz

Media & Entertainment Law

: Sports Biz

MLB Holds Out Hope for Inclusion in 2016 Olympics

As you probably know, baseball is scheduled to be bounced from the Olympics following the close of the Beijing Games. The reasons are many, but two stand out as at the top of the IOC list: drug testing and the lack of participation by major league players. IOC officials always want to include the top athletes in every sport and with the Olympics coming in August, MLB has refused to release players from major league rosters for participation in the Games. This year, the USA team is composed chiefly of Triple A players.

The drug testing issue is a bit more complicated. The anti-doping rules adopted by the IOC had been much more stringent than those in place in major league baseball, but the new procedures adopted recently may have gone a long ways towards resolving those issues. The new testing procedures and suspension rules for performance enhancing substances that Selig and the union agreed to in the spring appear to have satisfied the IOC.

MLB officials still don't know how to play IOC politics very well, however, as evidenced by the latest misstep coming in yesterday's press conference announcing the USA baseball team. MLB vice-president Bob Watson said: "I think if Chicago or Tokyo would win the Olympics for 2016, I think those countries are baseball countries, they have venues. " He further said: "Instead of a three day break for an all-star game, you might end up have a four or five day break and get all the games in some kind of way using major leaguers."

While Watson's comments may seem logical from our standpoint, it's not too much of a stretch to think that IOC members will see it as a heavy-handed attempt at influencing the venue choice for 2016, something almost guaranteed to backfire. One thing the IOC hates above all else is the feeling of being pressured to do anything. It's a highly political organization, impressed with its own self worth that must be handled with kid gloves. It's worse than UN. Watson's approach was exactly the wrong one.

Full post as published by Sports Biz on July 17, 2008 (boomark / email).