Baseball, Softball Meet with Major League Baseball

(ATR) President Riccardo Fraccari tells Around the Rings the International Baseball Federation is highly confident its bid for Olympic reinstatement will promise "strong representation of the best players" following key meetings with Major League Baseball.

"We have an excellent working relationship with MLB, based on trust and mutual respect," says the Italian.

"Both of us want to find realistic and feasible solutions that are good for us and the Olympic Movement."

Fraccari, interviewed Wednesday by ATR, is fresh off a visit to MLB headquarters in New York City for talks with Robert Manfred, Executive Vice President, Economics & League Affairs; Paul Archey, Senior VP of International Business Operations; and other senior officials.

IBAF is seeking assurances from MLB – as provided in 2009 for baseball’s failed 2016 bid – that some players would be released for 2020, a guarantee thought essential to the bid’s success.

Asked how many players he believes is enough to satisfy IOC Executive Board members, Fraccari says there’s no magic number.

"I feel we have a common objective to ensure that the national teams have an opportunity to select some of their best players," he tells ATR.

"With the support of MLB, as well as the other well-developed professional leagues in Japan, Korea, Chinese Taipei and Australia, we believe that can be achieved."

Fraccari announced last month the IBAF is proposing a six-day competition for the Olympics – down from the 10-day tournaments staged from 1992 to 2008 – to better the chances MLB will break for the Games.

Baseball – together in a joint bid with softball – is competing against karate, roller sports, wakeboard, wushu, sport climbing and squash for what will likely be just one open spot on the 2020 program.

After presentations to the IOC’s Program Commission in late December, the EB will add another to the fray in February when an existing Olympic sport gets cut.

EB members meet again in May on the sidelines of SportAccord in St. Petersburg, Russia to decide which of the eight then gets recommended to the IOC Session in Buenos Aires in September 2013 for confirmation.

Merger Moves Ahead

In the meantime, baseball has plenty of work to do if its merger with softball is to materialize.

Also included in last week's talks with MLB was Don Porter, president of the International Softball Federation.

In the same conference room, only minutes after MLB officials left, he and Fraccari signed a Memorandum of Understanding to manage the ongoing merger of their IFs.

Now the IBAF is soliciting opinions from its member federations regarding a possible postal vote to approve the joint bid, and the ISF is organizing an extraordinary congress Oct. 30 in Houston to decide whether to move forward with baseball.

"The response from our national federations indicates there will be sufficient numbers for a quorum at our Special Congress," Porter tells ATR.

"And to this point, the meetings in New York have allowed us again to build on the trust and confidence between our IFs and reconfirm to us and all of our members that we are moving forward together for the sake of our athletes and to be in a position to consolidate and offer more to the Olympic Movement."

Asked whether the IBAF retains a realistic shot at Olympic reinstatement should softball sever the joint bid and baseball be forced to pitch its women’s discipline, Fraccari demurs.

"We are focused solely on working together and don’t see any reason, as this stage, to consider any alternatives."

Pressed to what degree it’s now or never for baseball at the Games, he focuses solely on the current bid cycle.

"Being off the Olympic Program has given the international baseball community the chance to recognize the importance and value of participating in the Games, but it has also forced us to adapt and continue to develop," he tells ATR.

"As seen from the elite-youth level events starting with the 12U to our professional level events, our sport has continued to grow and prosper outside the program, but being back in the Games would significantly enhance and accelerate that path. At the same time we bring a universal and passionate worldwide community, which we think will help grow and strengthen the Olympic Movement long-term. That’s our sole focus for the time being."

December Deadlines

Both the IBAF and ISF must receive the decisions of their member federations by the time of their presentation to the IOC on Dec. 19 or 20

That’s because a joint candidacy from baseball and softball faces an additional deadline above and beyond those for the other six sports.

A new, merged international federation would need to hold a congress – complete with elections – in sufficient time prior to SportAccord for reports to be supplied to the EB.

In addition to nominating a sport to recommend to the IOC Session, the EB would also be deciding whether to recommend that the new IF be recognized.

To win Olympic reinstatement, then, baseball and softball would need both votes in St. Petersburg and both votes in Buenos Aires.

Written by Matthew Grayson

20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.