Last year in Zurich, this year the big meeting is back on USBL turf in the heart of Texas. Not San Antonio, interestingly, but Fort Worth.
Naturally when Pierce Carlson announced Fort Worth would be spot, whispers starting circulating about a franchise there to take on the WBA's Dallas Bulls. But that would come later, the big story was WBA commissioner Chris Hayes missing out due to unspecified health concerns. The man behind this global vision of baseball that has spread far beyond what many thought possible and yet still retained a big viewership here in the States has remained vibrant and full of energy into his mid-80s and we all wish him well, including his rivals at the meeting.
Richard Villani took his place as the lead man, with Sam Greene promoted to #2. The same owners were there, Lopez from SLC and Aliyec of Barcelona. The same management rep for the USBL was there in Michael Newby from the Riders, but as Marco Avila was fired from Mexico City, it was Rick Marshall of Sydney representing the WBA's GM's. Hector Chavez finally retired, meaning Will Goodnight of Raleigh is the new USBL player rep. Wilson Salinas is the rep for the WBA.
The New Guys
The Agenda
The first topic was a recap of the
recently completed Nations League. 40 different national teams took part across 4 different 10 team leagues.
-A tier played in Phoenix (England beat Canada as the US shockingly finished outside top 2, France relegated)
-B tier played in Santo Domingo (Spain defeats Taiwan, Philippines relegated)
-C tier played in Johannesburg (Scotland defeats Belgium, Ukraine relegated)
-D tier played in Sao Paulo (Brazil defeats New Zealand, Sweden finishes last)
It was judged a success but a small one. International play is still a tiny portion of viewers and money though reports are Spain and Brazil both loved the tournament, even having a public viewing or two for the finals. Carlson loves the idea of Nations League way more than what he calls the "bulky, bloodless World Cup" with regions like Asia and the Southern Hemisphere not really having fans who support it.
We now have a schedule of Nations League and World Cup alternating, that will be subject to evaluation in 5 years.
Purchasing players
San Antonio Riders GM Newby wanted clauses inserted into every contract of lower tier teams that clubs from the top could buy their players for some price, he suggested $2 million. Richer clubs from the second tier have voiced opposition to this, as have poorer first tier teams thinking it will just make San Antonio even stronger basically. It's not a horrible idea, but it's coming from the wrong man. Fresh off his clubs 10th USBL title the year after signing two of the biggest free agents and with the Riders lining up a likely $23 million payroll for next year when no one else even reaches $13 million, they aren't the most popular club among the rest of the USBL. The motion sort of slid by as most basically didn't want San Antonio to be helped further.
Summer Market
Talk about the
explosion in prices this summer was interesting as essentially everyone approved of the process. The indication is maybe twice as many players will test the Summer Market next year (16 and 17 year olds) as normal. The classic path of playing amateur ball after turning 16 and then making the leap at 19 or 20 doesn't make as much sense if you can grab 6 figures a few years earlier and spend time in the minors. This process is preferred across the board by the committees.
Carlson's Shock Expansion Plan
Before Villani could get to what he thought would be the tensest part of the meeting, Carlson jumped the gun. Last year Hayes showed his plan of adding dozens of new teams and a third tier to the WBA, and Carlson seemed cold toward it. Either he was faking then or he's put together an incredible amount of work over the past season. He put a map on the board with 32 new teams in what he calls the "Americana League". He said he had 16 more waiting if any fell through and that this "Americana League" would continue the USBL's tradition of emphasizing the best communities and the most unique flavors of America. The league would be divided into four geographical divisions
-Northeast (featuring two Baltimore franchises, Chesapeake, Providence and more)
-Midwest (finally a St. Louis team, plus Cleveland, Louisville, Grand Rapids and more)
-Southeast (two teams in DFW metroplex, one in Austin, a team in Tampa and St. Pete, and more)
-Southwest (heavy concentration in Arizona and So Cal with El Paso in the mix also)
Villani was stunned, no reports had come to him that the USBL was this far along. He had planned on talking in the secondary meeting, with just WBA/Euroleague/ASL about possible expansion and further integration of the leagues. He simply said "Looks good." Carlson broke out that high-pitched laugh so reminiscent of his father and asked "Looks good? That's all you have to say? You don't have your own plan ready?" Villani calmly and coolly didn't respond to this provocation but you could see it burned the former French ambassador to the US.
Villani eventually haggled a year delay in any expansion plans involving the USBL and WBA as Carlson cackled. "We're fine now, we are fine expanding...you just seem unprepared"
Champions League Qualification Reset
The idea shared by SLC's owner Mark Lopez was that too many teams from outside the very top are making the CL. Right now the top team from Europe, Asia, the WBA2 and USBL2 all have a shot to win a 3-game series to make it into the CL.
This has happened several times now. Since the first year it was an opton in '59, the Little Leaguers as they are sometimes called are 6-18 in qualification series, but are 4-4 the past two seasons.
Team (Record in Champions League)
2064: Washington and RB Salzburg (5-13)
2063: Las Vegas Lights and Real Madrid (6-12)
2061: Quebec (3-6)
2060: Shanghai (3-6)
This overall record of 17 wins and 37 losses for a .315 winning % doesn't add much to the competition, and only one team has made the knockout round in 6 tries. This has made the competition feel less elite, Lopez claims, and teams in the second tier feel like they have too much of a chance.
He wants the 3rd place team in both the USBL and WBA to return to an automatic spot ("Making the playoffs in our league is brutal, it should be rewarded with a spot in the competition and not another qualifier filled with luck.") Lopez wants these global competitions to feature teams at the top of their organizations, why should a second place team in Asia have precedence over a team who battled through the meat grinder of the WBA to finish in the top half? He has a point. Chris Hayes, the democratizer of these competitions, was not there to respond and Villani, ego still shaken maybe from the Carlson laugh, said nothing. The motion passed even with some noting the gap is closing between the top two leagues and the rest.
We will be seeing many more middle of the pack USBL and WBA teams, if you finish top half you are now guaranteed a group stage spot somewhere. And only the winners of the secondary leagues have a spot in global competition, no more second placers.
That wrapped things up for the Big Meeting, but the WBA's secondary meeting followed the next day was where a lot of juiciness was expected.
Day 2, Not As Big Meeting
Arriving Day 2 in Fort Worth were reps from the Euroleague, both tiers of the WBA and Asia along with a mysterious group of five.
English/Welsh megastar Carl West was there as was former Chicago Union now Samsung Lion outfielder Takahito Hiratsuka.
So were Barca GM Soren Walter and Manila head coach Liu-Liang Sui, coming off a Super League title.
Opening Salvo
Villani was more direct and less pleading than Hayes had been in the past, calmly offering the Asian group the opportunity for several teams to begin in WBA2 and even offered the hope of one beginning in the top tier if they directly joined with the WBA. The agreement the day previous taking away a qualifying spot for the ASL's #2 team and making it harder to make the CL had not put the Asian group in a good mood.
Sui said that we will agree to be under the WBA umbrella if we can get a direct CL spot, a second direct Global Cup spot, we get to keep the revenue from these tournaments, we keep our own league, and we keep our "2 Foreigner Rule".
Villani signed in frustration, everyone knew this wasn't a serious offer. The two sides remain massively off each other and the Asian Superleague will remain basically it's own entity.
Europe
With the USBL ready to expand, the WBA has to focus its
grand plans from last year into something a bit more actionable. The potential two different leagues in the Americas have morphed into one division with teams to be named later.
The Euroleague's planned expansion has been put on hold as the WBA's new overtures are to incorporate the league fully as it stands into the new third tier. Carl West and Soren Walter basically openly said they'd do almost anything to join the WBA system. The Euroleague has been a minimal success, with the league title passing between 6 different teams hands in the first 6 years, no rivalries or storylines have truly developed. It's well-backed financially and will give into to the demands to drop any foreigner rule quickly. That's a second division and 24 total teams.
Group of Five
Ideally, Villani wanted Asia to be division three but with that blown up, his second option was the mysterious group of five there today. Businessmen from Pakistan, England, Australia, South Africa and India were ready to talk a new league. But Villani's thoughts of having this group form the 3rd division of his new third tier quickly came crashing down.
"We know the similarities between baseball and cricket, we think we know how to market the game in our countries better than you. And we think our fans want to see our players playing. We want foreigner rules as well, that's a red line. We have enough talent and people in just our countries alone to build a league to rival yours." said the very bold but possibly misinformed Dilip Tata, a Mumbai-based mogul who led the way.
What became clear was Tata had his own agenda that didn't have anything to do with the WBA and was basically there to announce the new
Commonwealth League. This league was basically Hayes' idea from last season that they took and made their own. With Indian money and the Indian market backing it, it's hard to overcome that momentum. Tata already has the 12 teams and where players can come from. He unveiled a huge map to show the room
Anything colored is the Commonwealth Zone, players from those regions are eligible for this league and nobody else.
There had been debate over including Canada as the worry was players from Canada would just overrun the league as they couldn't convince a Canadian team to join, but in the end the quality of players and the historical Commonwealth association won out. They want to start play as soon as possible, as early as the 2066 season.
"I think we can get 80,000 people out to watch when the Indian teams play each other or we play a Pakistani team" bragged Tata. That remains to be seen.
Where Else?
This leaves a 3rd tier of the WBA looking at an Americas Division and a European division, but still 8 teams shy of the proposed USBL proposal. There've been whispers of a oil-backed bid from the Middle East that could provide another division, or the WBA could go to two divisions of 16 with Euro expansion and a 16-team Americas division instead of 12. They are a bit on the back foot now and need a clearer plan by next Big Meeting as Carlson will be waiting to laugh.