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© (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012.Japan's players vote to boycott World Baseball Classic
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© (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012.
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TrevorPeace1
Proof positive it's all about money, not sport.
Clément Delestrade
Yeah right because they should get less than the others and just shut up.
alliswellinjapan
Money is obviously an integral element of professional sports. I am all for this decision especially when half of the sponsorship money is coming from Japan, many of the first round games played in Japan whilst nearly 70% of the profit seems to be paid out to MLB. Japan has already proven through the two tournaments by winning both and attracting a lot of domestic money and attention that their request is justifiable in all accounts. I assume many others in Japan are supportive of this decision.
danalawton1@yahoo.com
Good for them! It is bad enough that Japanese rookies have to sign 10 year contracts.... in addition they get hosed on salary and the team shares in any endorsments they do. And you wonder why Japanese baseball is dying a slow death just like much of the rest of Japan.
kwatt
It makes a sense that money is everything for players. It seems that America got much more money than Japan although it won the two tournaments of the two WBC games. The Champion fundamentally should get more than the losers.
Ms. Alexander
It's just not right. Why should Japan get shafted when they are two-time champions? I would hate to not see Japan in WBC but I support their decision!
lucabrasi
This is exactly that attitude that has ruined sport over the years.
tmarie
Indeed, all about the money. So much for playing because you love the sport.
Perhaps Japan could start their own tournament and make the rules? This reads like a sour kid picking up his glove and going home because he didn't get what he wanted.
kwatt
America is a loser twice in the last two WBC games. I just wonder why America got more that Japan is a champion twice. At least money should be even.
TokyoGas
Give them the money.
Yubaru
This is exactly that attitude that has ruined sport over the years.
I don't understand how anyone could believe that the "loser's" are entitled to more than the "winners". It's baffling to say the least.
The players are the one's out there, and they are the one's who "win" or "lose" the games. In my opinion all sponsorship money should be pooled and distributed according to placement in the tournament. Never going to happen I know but it is the fairest solution to the problem.
Japanese players as with any players in the tournament have a right as I see it to be fairly compensated.
nandakandamanda
Japan gets little of the revenue, but has been told by the US that as a world leader in baseball they should continue to shoulder 50% of the costs of the series "in the interests of fostering baseball in poor or developing countries".
What I saw on J TV this morning is not reflected in the above article, but it is reflected in some of the posts above.
It sounded to me as though Japan really do have a case here.
Probie
The next time you see a Japanese baseball player crying when they lose the Japan series, hand them a 10,000 yen note to dry his tears and he'll be beaming a big smile almost instantly.
oyamaman
Is this the "World Championship" where a handful of countries take part?
smithinjapan
Normally I would say this is a sign of greed, but their complaints about money on this issue seem pretty legit. I only say that because others are making HEAPS off of them, like the MLB. Some more of that should go to the players if things are badly skewed.
Regardless, as two-time winners it'd be a shame if Japan didn't participate, and of course if they don't (I suspect they will, in the end), there will be a lot of crap talk over who the actual champions are, etc.
lucabrasi
As opposed to the "World Series", where teams from precisely two neighbouring countries take part.
jforce
Winner take all. Then we'll see some motivation. Yes, sport is a job. So, money is important to the players. A lot of these guys have such a short career and that sponsorship is integral to their earnings (which are peanuts in the NPB anyway). Also, yes this is a World Championship. If we're going to look at some other World Cups - ahem Rugby or Cricket - the same argument could be made that only a handful (literally) of countries play those "sports".
Yubaru
2 neighboring countries? The ONLY time "two countries" ever participated was in 1992–93 when the Toronto Bluejay's won the "World Series" titles.
Otherwise it's always been just ONE country's teams that have played in it.
Oh and BTW players from numerous countries play in the MLB.
mikihouse
America does not send its best player to the WBC but rather second rank and even third rank players to avoid injury that might disrupt MBL but they get 70% of the whole revenue even they don't win. The rest of the world fights for the remaining 30% but thats not only it. Joining countries must bring along with them sponsors or else they can't join. Its a totally onerous contract benefitting only USA. Down with the WBC.
Pump24
How many of us make a living doing what we love? Some, sure, but would you do it for free, or a below meager salary? Probably not. So why should we expect pro athletes to do what they love for little money? This is their job, their income, and they deserve to make a salary comparable to others in the short career of being a pro athlete.
lucabrasi
That's why I said "two". Don't want to offend those Canucks now, do we?
GW
Pro sports worldwide has mostly become a greed fest, screw them all, I wud rather watch some kids play sports, more honest & still great to watch, to hell with pro sports its all only about $$ these days
BurakuminDes
Proof that this tournament is not a real "World Championship." I mean, can anyone entertain the thought of Brazil or Spain boycotting the Soccer World Cup because they weren't offered enough cash? The players would be run out of their respective countries and told to never come back!
gaijinfo
Of course this isn't a "world championship." This was put together by MLB, with the purpose of increasing revenue. The Americans certainly aren't going to pay the winning team the most money when they only send their third string players.
If they REALLY wanted to make it fair for everybody, it would be like a REAL tournament ,and the winner would get ALL the prize money, and send their BEST players.
Then Japan would never win.
Is what they really want?
lostrune2
MLB (not America - there's a difference: one is a league, the other is a team) gets more money because most of the WBC players are from that league.
It's like UEFA gets more compensation from the soccer World Cup because most of the WC players play there.
SamuraiBlue
Nope since "A REAL WORLD SERIES" will be based on their nationality in which most of the major league players will participate under their own flag not the star spangle banner.
Jimizo
As has been pointed out, players or countries refusing to take part in the football world cup because of cash would be rightly disgraced. This proposed boycott has exposed this 'world championship' as a negation of what sport should be about.
alliswellinjapan
The biggest miscalculation on the part of MLB was their failure to showcase their overwhelming power in the previous tournaments, which should have safely secured a much stronger case for the current profit distribution arrangement while attracting more foreign audience to MLB. Instead, it has become a showcase of highly motivated top notch talent and effective team play coming from Asia and lack thereof from the Americas, whereby Japan and Korea pretty much jointly dominated in both game winning strength and revenue generation while not only the US, but also other MLB serving Latin American countries incl Dominica and Cuba were repeatedly defeated thereby unable to drive and maintain enough local interest which is obviously the last thing the MLB would have wanted. I hear the Korean players union is also complaining about the unfairness in profit distribution. If MLB is wise, they would agree to some minimum concession knowing that the top level players from Japan or elsewhere, once they participate and have a feel of the international competition, will eventually be playing for the MLB thereby eventually weakening the position of the Asian leagues to help MLB effectively complete their global domination at the end of the day.
MC68040
The article is wrong Distribution to MLB is 66% (MLB33%/MLBPA33%) Distribution money and the prize of 14 countries are 34% of the remainder.