Yankees-Red Sox rivalry may reach foreign territory in 2018
The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are poised to take their rivalry to places its never been before. And we mean that literally.
According to Michael Silverman of the Boston Globe, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner and Red Sox owner John Henry have been in discussions for two years centered around taking a future regular season series to London. With the new collective bargaining agreement ratified and MLB’s intentions to play more international series very clear, that could reportedly happen as soon as the 2018 season.
Now, with the ratification of a new collective bargaining agreement that spells out a commitment from MLB and the players to competing in multiple international destinations, and only one named city — London — talk of a Red Sox-Yankees matchup is turning more serious. What does appear to be a done deal is that the Red Sox, as well as the Yankees and probably the Mets, are going to wind up playing in London at least once over the five-year span of the new CBA.
Of course, there are multiple potential hurdles that would have to be cleared. Chief among them is the topic we’re sure both teams owners discussed at great length, and that’s how the lost revenue for sold tickets would be made up. Silverman suggests a corporate sponsorship could be set up to offset such losses, along with the league limiting the series to two games and one lost gate for each side.
That doesn’t compensate for annoyed fans however, so there will always be that hurdle.
Another noted challenge will be the logistics, as in when the series would be played and how that might impact preparation. There’s no realistic way to fit an international series played in a vastly different timezone during the summer months. It would almost have to cut into spring training, which wouldn’t be a new practice, but is not always comfortable for the players.
Given that the Yankees and Red Sox are reportedly deep into discussions, perhaps these issues will prove to be minor blips. In fact, the presidents for both teams expressed excitement and optimism about making it happen.
“It would be great” to play the Yankees in London, said Red Sox president Sam Kennedy recently. “We would really like to do it.”
Randy Levine, president of the Yankees, expressed similar enthusiasm.
“The Yankees have been at the forefront of suggesting that we bring the great game of baseball to London,” said Levine in an email. “There have been some meaningful attempts to do so, and we are hopeful and confident that we can play there soon. Playing the Red Sox in London would be a special and unique event.”
Both Kennedy and Levine serve on MLB’s International Committee. When two of the sport’s super powers get behind a showcase such as this one, the momentum and enthusiasm could prove hard for MLB to resist.
Needless to say, this would be a strong message from MLB in their effort to branch out internationally. The NFL has been ahead of the curve in that regard, sending regular season games to London for the better part of a decade. But they’ve never sent a marquee match on par with Yankees-Red Sox.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
