[FuzzyRussianHat]

Baseball’s popularity in Europe continued to surge into the 1990s and 2000s. Many cities and markets on the continent felt they were now ready for the major leagues and the European Baseball Federation was looking to expand. EBF officials wanted to have an organization comparable in size and stature to Major League Baseball. Figuring out the exact logistics though was something that took planning over a number of years.

Further complicating things were the Eurasian Professional Baseball teams that were considering a jump or were able to be poached. In 2000, the great exodus occurred and the EBF grew from 30 teams to 48. 14 teams formerly from EPB defected (Kyiv, Kharkiv, Warsaw, Prague, Helsinki, Riga, Vilnius, Budapest, Bratislava, Bucharest, Tirana, Sofia, Yerevan, Tbilisi), greatly expanding EBF’s footprint eastward. They also did add four new expansion teams from Manchester, Cologne, Odessa, and Krakow.

The expansion and the growth of organizations like the European Union and NATO meant that pretty much the entire continent was a viable option, making for even more cities that wanted a team. At 48 teams, EBF had found a good new balance and wasn’t trying to change that setup. However, they did worry that some of the other cities may try to go rogue and start a new competing league. EBF also wanted to tap more markets and grow the game.

The concept of promotion and relegation wasn’t new to European sports, as it was heavily seen already in various soccer leagues. The idea of a second tier league in which teams could be promoted to the main EBF grew a lot of steam and many cities were onboard. Some of the existing EBF franchises were leery of the idea with fears that their team could get demoted into irrelevancy. But most officials agreed this was going to be the best way to expand.

The next steps became figuring out which cities and countries to add teams from, then figuring out the format and structure of blending this new league into the existing EBF structure. It would become known as the European Second League (E2L), officially starting play in 2005. Cities were encouraged to submit bids and applications throughout the early 2000s to join this new endeavor. Eventually, 32 new franchises were chartered.

The teams would be a mix of cities from large countries that already had teams, as well as cities from smaller countries that had been under represented previously. Unlike the main EBF which had a Northern Conference and Southern Conference divide, the E2L used a Western and Eastern division.

For the inaugural season, the Western Conference lineup included three teams from England (Nottingham, Sheffield, Liverpool), three from France (Lyon, Toulouse, Nantes), three from Germany (Hanover, Frankfurt, Stuttgart), and two from Spain (Valencia, Zaragoza). Turin was added from western Italy. Scotland also got its second team (Edinburgh) as did Belgium (Antwerp). Countries getting their first franchise were Wales (Cardiff) and Iceland (Reykjavik). Reykjavik became the northernmost pro baseball team in the world.

The Eastern Conference additions had more new nations adding teams as part of the goal of integrating the post-Soviet states into the broader European community. The West/East divide of the E2L was also set up that way instead of the top tier’s North/South setup in part to encourage more opportunities for the comparatively less wealthy nations and cities.

Countries getting their first major baseball franchise were Estonia (Tallinn), Moldova (Chisinau), North Macedonia (Skopje), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo), and Slovenia (Ljubljana). Previous EPB strongholds Ukraine (Lviv, Dnipro) and Poland (Lodz, Wroclaw) both added two teams. Nations getting a second team were Czechia (Brno), Greece (Thessaloniki), Sweden (Gothenburg), Bulgaria (Varna), and Romania (Cluj-Napoca). The Eastern Conference also added another German team (Leipzig) and an Italian one (Palermo).