Baseball plans to hit home run in Mideast, India and Pakistan

NEW YORK: The United International Baseball League has announced a plan to bring professional baseball to India, Pakistan, and the Middle East, beginning with an inaugural showcase in Dubai in February 2023.

The UIBL has partnered with Hall of Fame baseball legends, Mariano Rivera and Barry Larkin — two of the sport’s most iconic and decorated stars, with a combined six World Series Championships and 25 All-Star Game selections — to help build, develop and grow the league.

The Indian Subcontinent and the Middle East region are home to two billion people, with more than 900 million fans of cricket — the world’s most popular bat and ball sport. While baseball exists in small pockets across South Asia and the GCC countries, there is an absence of professional leagues and a void of deep, grassroots player development expertise and infrastructure. The UIBL team is looking to change that.

“I’m very grateful to be a part of the UIBL’s exciting mission to inspire two billion new fans to fall in love with baseball,” said Rivera, professional baseball’s career leader in saves and games finished, and the only player ever unanimously elected to the Hall of Fame. “We believe there is an amazing opportunity to educate, inspire and entertain those cricket fans, and open their hearts to an exciting and culturally relevant form of baseball.”

American baseball is a $13 billion business with nearly 100 million fans across the US and Canada and a rabid following throughout Latin America. However, the game has yet to connect with South Asian and Middle Eastern sports fans, who collectively represent the largest cricket fan base in the world. In South Asia alone, more than 167 million people watched the International Cricket Council T20