http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304314404576409254178528890.html
Giving Baseball Wider Play in Asia
By JASON CHOW
In Jim Small's first job in Major League Baseball, as an intern with the
Kansas City Royals in 1982, his duties included opening mail and picking up
the players' dry cleaning.
These days he has a much bigger assignment—to raise the sport's profile in
Asia.
It's a challenge. Baseball is already popular in Japan, Taiwan and Korea, but
elsewhere in Asia many people wouldn't know a home run from a strikeout.
China in particular has never really caught the baseball bug.
As well, there's stiff competition for the same Asian sports fans,
particularly from soccer and basketball.
Mr. Small, now managing director and vice president for Asia, declined to
disclose numbers for MLB's business in Asia, saying only that revenue has
doubled since 2003, partly as a result of the popularity of Japanese and
Korean stars who now ply their trade stateside.
Mr. Small, who is based in Tokyo, recently spoke to The Wall Street Journal's
Jason Chow about the challenges of introducing baseball to China and about
how to grow in the mature Japanese market.
小先生是MLB派驻在东京的高层人员，负责亚洲地区MLB的推广。
亚洲除了日本、台湾、韩国外，几乎是棒球沙漠。
The following interview has been edited.
WSJ: What are your goals in Asia?
Mr. Small: It's the same for all sports. There's basically four revenue
streams: media, sponsorships, licensing and events. We've done games in
Japan, China and Taiwan. The best long-term opportunity, of course, is to
find a local player and build on that. Our revenue today is five times
greater than before [Japanese pitcher] Hideo Nomo came over [to the U.S.] in
1995. People always want to cheer for the hometown guy.
运动收入的四大来源: 媒体播放、赞助、商品授权、办活动
现在MLB在亚洲的收入是野茂时代的五倍了
亚洲当地观众还是希望看老乡在球场上打球
WSJ: What is the status of baseball in China?
Mr. Small: In 2001, I met with the China Baseball Association—it was the
first time we established a tie.
But baseball's history is quite long there. It was actually quite popular in
the 1940s and '50s, but during the Cultural Revolution Mao effectively killed
the game by forbidding it. They look at baseball as an Asian sport, not an
American sport. It's played in Japan, Taiwan and Korea. There's context.
WSJ: What are you doing to grow the game in China?
Mr. Small: We're on nine channels in China now. We've a licensing program in
over 70 stores. We've a grassroots program called "Play Ball" where we're in
150 schools in five cities.
Secondly, we're continuing to help the national team train. In 2009, we also
created a development center program with a middle school in Wuxi. This is
the great experiment. Can you take a kid from a non-traditional baseball
country and with the right training, nutrition and coaching, can you make him
a prospect?
目前中国有九个频道有MLB
MLB在中国的作法是深耕基层
引起小孩子的打棒球兴趣
及帮助中国国家队训练
WSJ: Basketball and soccer have made big inroads in China. How do you compete?
Mr. Small: We think we are building on a significant base that we already
have. In 2008, a research firm called TNS found that 16% of the population in
China have some interest in baseball and 25% of them had brand awareness for
MLB. It surprised us. Additional data from TNS showed that the fans were in
big cities and were highly educated. We trail behind basketball and soccer,
but it's a gauge that there's awareness.
四个中国人中有一个人知道MLB哟
WSJ: How do you encourage grassroots participation when there are few
baseball facilities in China?
Mr. Small: Facilities and the presence of a professional league are really
important. At the moment, we are not involved [with the professional Chinese
Baseball League]. As we continue to grow, there needs to be a ladder for a
kid to climb. He has to see that he can play in school, then for an elite
club in his area, at a university, a national team, and a professional
league, and maybe at the top of the rung, MLB.
WSJ: Baseball is already popular in Japan. What can you do there?
Mr. Small: In Asia, sports marketing is behind Europe and the U.S. Eight
years ago, if a company in Japan wanted to run a promotion, they'd call us,
Hello Kitty and Snoopy and they'd pick the cheapest deal and run a two- or
three-week promotion. There was no thinking long-term. That's starting to
change.
We have 90% brand awareness in Japan and we do really well with wealthy
housewives. At first, it didn't make sense but then it dawned on me: Our
games are on at 8 a.m in the morning. Women have the game on in the house. So
we took this info to Kellogg's. That started a five-year promotion. They put
MLB players on their boxes with paraphernalia in their cereals, and their
sales spiked.
在棒球已经非常深入生活的日本，
MLB下一个消费族群瞄准"有钱的人妻"
例如授权家乐氏的早餐麦片盒上印上球员吸引人妻来买
(不如在咖哩块包装封面印上Ichiro...)
WSJ: Where else in Asia do you see growth?
Mr. Small: The next big opportunity for us is India. We have a contest there
called "The Million Dollar Arm." We go around the country and get people to
test their throwing with a radar gun. The top arms can come to Mumbai in
August, and the top two guys will then be invited to come to Wuxi to train.
At the end of six months, they'll have an opportunity to try out with an MLB
club. Two years ago, the two were signed with the MLB's Pittsburgh Pirates.
One of them is a kid named Rinku Singh, a 6-foot-4 (1.93-meter) lefty who
throws 93 miles per hour and is currently playing in their double-A
affiliate. [Sony] is looking to do a movie on him.
MLB在亚洲另一个大机会是在印度
(不是人口多就是机会大吧...)
MLB在当地举办百万金臂人的活动
两年前参加这个比赛选出的两个阿三目前在海盗队小联盟
Sony将为其中一个阿三拍摄自传电影