The World Baseball Softball Confederation has confirmed the launch of Base, its new commercial and marketing arm.
Base will have offices in London, Miami and Tokyo and will oversee the media and sponsorship rights distribution of WBSC properties.
The agency will handle rights to the new five-on-five street discipline Baseball5, the Baseball World Cup (U12, U15, U18, U23 and women’s), the Softball World Cup (U12, U15, U18, U23 and men’s/women’s) and the WBSC World Rankings.
The MP & Silva agency, the WBSC’s existing media partner, will continue to lead media and broadcast sales for the top-tier WBSC Premier12 tournament next year.
Base will be tasked with continuing to increase WBSC’s commercial revenue to accelerate the development and launch of new tournaments in markets of high growth potential. The agency’s objectives will be in line with the WBSC’s vision to build a major global sport with over a billion players and fans over the next decade.
Base will also seek to further broaden engagement with existing and new fans through new broadcast and digital streaming partnerships.
WBSC president Riccardo Fraccari (pictured) said: “The timely launch of this dedicated new commercial arm will allow WBSC to expand and meet the growing needs of our global sport and be in the most favourable position to best leverage and distribute our assets moving forward.
“The launch of Base will allow WBSC to focus efforts on the delivery and operation of our World Cups, further elevating our brand, while at the same time dedicating more resources to boost the development and exposure of baseball/softball in high-potential growth markets like Africa and Europe.”
The WBSC ratified the launch of Base last month when confirming details of its new Baseball5 discipline. Base has been launched ahead of baseball and softball’s return to the summer Olympic Games programme at Tokyo 2020.