Yankees swing for first base in China http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=sportsNews&storyID=2007-01-30T062643Z_01_PEK138350_RTRUKOC_0_US-BASEBALL-CHINA-YANKEES.xml
Tue Jan 30, 2007
BEIJING (Reuters) - The New York Yankees will send staff including coaches and scouts to China and will train Chinese players at facilities overseas in a bid to boost baseball in the world's biggest market, top executives said on Tuesday.
An agreement signed with China's baseball administration would see Yankees personnel posted to China "in the next few months" and training academies built in Chinese cities "in the near future," Yankees President Randy Levine told a news conference.
The agreement is the first between an MLB club and the Chinese association, a Yankees statement said.
"We will provide our best talent, our best knowledge and the full commitment of our financial and personnel resources to this great strategic alliance," Levine said.
"Hopefully in a very short time, Chinese players will be in the United States and where ever Major League Baseball is played."
Levine, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, and an entourage of corporate sales and sponsorship executives arrived in Beijing this week for talks with Chinese baseball officials, on the way to Japan for further meetings with strategic partners.
Yankees executives declined to disclose the cost of the partnership but said it would be "significant."
"We also intend to be here for a very long time," Levine said. "This is a great, great market. It's growing and we're confident... that there will be ample opportunities for all parties to reap the benefits."
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