McCarthy on a mission to create baseball fans
Building a professional sports league from the ground up is no easy task. Don't tell this to Tom McCarthy, though. The man is determined to turn the China Baseball League into the country's next big sport. As the co-organiser of the CBL and the president of the sports marketing firm entrusted with exclusive rights to promote the league, McCarthy's theory goes like this: If you build it and then get out in the community to tell people about it, they will come.
The CBL enters its third year of play at the beginning of April and McCarthy is promising a bigger and, hopefully, better season. With average attendance last year at 800 to 1,200 per game, the goal for this season is to get at least 1,200 to 1,600, representing 80 per cent of stadium capacity. He isn't wasting time praying for fans though. As the games get under way in Tianjin, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, McCarthy and his team will roll out a series of programmes in each city.
'We're gonna do a lot more to get people to the stadiums,' says McCarthy. 'Part of it is targeting the youth. If we can get that education process going, it will attract more people.'
The most popular is likely to be 'Swing for the Wall'. Before Saturday games, players and coaches from both teams will provide a free clinic for children aged 10-16. Kids will be introduced to the fundamentals of the game such as throwing, fielding and hitting. Designed for about 100 people, all those participating receive a T-shirt and a free lunch, as well as the chance to interact with pro athletes.
There's also a 'Swing for the Wall on Wheels' initiative. Twelve schools - four universities, four middle school and four primary schools - in each CBL city will be visited by players. The athletes will talk to students about the importance of education and the beauty of baseball. Coupons, certificates, CBL schedules and lucky draw tickets will be passed out.
But that's not all. In both cities hosting games that week, McCarthy's team is launching 'Mall Ball Mania'. Reaching out into the core of modern society, the CBL will be setting up batting cages and strikeout machines in shopping malls. Anyone interested can get free giveaways and experience a little piece of the game.
'I know from being around the other leagues that no one has taken this type of proactive approach to their sports league in China on a regular basis,' says McCarthy, a former division one college baseball player and one time NBA player. 'Some may have done a one-off here and there, but ours are consistent programmes.'
The CBL's television product is also likely to improve this year. The producer of the Nagano Winter Olympics and baseball in Japan has been hired to show Chinese broadcasters how to capture the excitement and passion of the sport using different camera angles and video tape during TV broadcasts. A minimum of 26 games will be telecast, including the All-Star game and every game of the China Series, which determines the CBL champions.
With the schedule jumping to 72 games, up from last year's 48, the CBL is looking and acting more and more like a professional sports league. It's a slow, difficult process, but China's Field of Dreams is being built one fan at a time.
