Commisioner Ideas

Bud Selig has got to fix the WBC. Too many people have gotten injured, and not enough people in the US are follwing the tournament. So...Here's my solution.

1. Keep the first two rounds during Spring Training.
2. Move the Semis to the All-Star Break. And...have the All-Star game, the Home Run Derby, and the Semi's in a foreign country. It's not every year, so moving the festivities out of the States doesn't ruin the tradition. I say the festivities should be on a rotation...Japan, Europe, Latin/Central America, USA. Games in Europe may bring in a new fan base, games in Japan engage the greatest MLB fanbase outside of the US, games in Latin America will give a great show for a location where many MLB players come from, and games in America will just have our regular American fans.
3. Make the finals a best of 3, and play them the week after the World Series. Everyone misses baseball after the World Series, so let there be a final competition to give everyone their baseball fix. The Finals should be on a rotation as well. Latin/Central America, USA, Europe, Japan. Then there's always two different locations for the Semis and the Finals.

On the non-WBC front...

MLB needs to keep looking for new sources of fans and players. I say that MLB should sponsor little leagues in other countries, and build baseball academies in different areas. I say we need to build two baseball academies in India (one North, one South), three in Europe (UK, Spain, Netherlands), five in Africa(South Africa, Ghana, the Congo, Egypt, and Morrocco), and one in Australia (Sydney). I know these all cost money, but if MLB can pay Bud Selig $18mm a year, then they can find money for these Academies.

Partner with the NFL and create an official organization called Athletes against Performance Enhancing Drugs (APED). This organization should have commercials and big advertisements against steroids (kind of like the Drug-Free commericals), but the ads should utilize real professional athletes (clean athletes) and have the MLB and NFL logos in each commercial. Football is becoming the most popular sport in America, and partnering with them would reach a greater number of fans. MLB needs to make a big public stand against steroids if they want to overcome this problem.

That's all for now, but I'll be back with more ideas.