![\"BUNKYO](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/M7AAAIBEWFC6LBMVAXCVOYNYXA.jpg\")
Fans of Team Japan wave flags during a 2023 WBC game at Tokyo Dome. MLB Photos via Getty Images <\/p>\nMajor League Baseball is betting big on Asia \u2014 and early commercial returns from the 2026 World Baseball Classic suggest the wager is already paying off.<\/p>\n
The WBC opens March 4 at the Tokyo Dome, and even before the first pitch, the league is calling it an unprecedented commercial success. Noah Garden, MLB deputy commissioner of business and media, cited triple-digit growth across all commercial areas since the 2023 WBC. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s more of a success than we imagined,\u201d said Garden, who will be at the Tokyo Dome next week to watch games, including the Chinese Taipei-Australia opener Wednesday. \u201cFor that growth to continue, we\u2019ll need more compelling storylines and great competition.\u201d<\/p>\n
While MLB has not disclosed specific revenue figures, this reinforces the league\u2019s belief that the WBC can serve as a commercial engine and path to deeper international growth. <\/p>\n
The Tokyo opener is the latest step in what has become a deliberate Asia-first strategy for MLB. The league opened its 2024 and 2025 regular seasons in Seoul and Tokyo, staged a WBC qualifier in Taiwan early last year and has leaned heavily into Shohei Ohtani\u2019s stardom as a commercial bridge between markets.<\/p>\n
Since Japan captured the 2023 WBC championship, with Ohtani striking out Mike Trout for the final out, Ohtani\u2019s stardom has continued to skyrocket, with his Dodgers securing back-to-back World Series titles. Meanwhile, postseason viewership numbers have soared in Japan, with Netflix and MLB reaching a media rights deal last August that will see all 47 WBC games streamed there.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat tells you how bullish we are on the Asia market,\u201d Jeremiah Yolkut, MLB senior vice president of global events, told Sports Business Journal. \u201cOhtani and other stars from across Asia are really driving a lot of our international growth strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garden said interest in the tourney helped account for an influx of some $250 million from various governments to local federations around the world to support baseball.<\/p>\n
\u201cGlobal growth was the target when we started the WBC and what we\u2019re getting,\u201d Garden said.<\/p>\n
Approximately 190 players on MLB rosters will compete in the 20-team WBC. Yolkut said ticket sales at all four host venues (which also include Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico; loanDepot Park in Miami; and Daikin Park in Houston) are trending up from three years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cFans want to come, and I think it\u2019s a destination,\u201d Yolkut said.<\/p>\n
While the United States will earn an automatic bid into the LA28 Olympics at the host country, the top two other nations from the Americas in the WBC will earn Olympic berths. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has been increasingly optimistic that MLB players will be able to participate.<\/p>\n
About 70 sponsors from around the world are supporting the WBC, with 10 in as global sponsors, including Japanese health care company IHI; Japanese green tea distributor Ito En; Japan Airlines; Japanese video game developer Konami; Kowa, a sporting scopes manufacturer; Japan\u2019s largest banking group, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG); footwear\/apparel brand New Balance; watchmaker Seiko; and bedding and recovery wear company Tential.<\/p>\n
Fans of Team Japan wave flags during a 2023 WBC game at Tokyo Dome. MLB Photos via Getty Images <\/p>\n
Sponsor ads on uniforms will include longtime MLB corporate patrons T-Mobile (Puerto Rico) and Capital One (U.S.). Other patches: Caja de Ahorros (Panama), MUFG (Japan), Four\u2019N Twenty (Australia), Kakaopay Securities (Korea), CTBC (Chinese Taipei), Banco BHD (Dominican Republic), Visit Cura\u00e7ao (Netherlands) and The Tie (Israel). Helmet decal sponsors include Universal Insurance (Puerto Rico), Nippon Express (Japan), Com2uS (Korea), Citiesocial (Chinese Taipei) and Olein (Dominican Republic).<\/p>\n
For the first time, each of the four WBC pools has presenting sponsors. Discover Puerto Rico will be presenting sponsor of the San Juan pool; Japanese HR company Dip will be presenting sponsor of the Tokyo pool; and Capital One, MLB\u2019s official bank and credit card, will be presenting sponsor of the U.S. tournament locations in Houston and Miami.<\/p>\n
On the consumer products side, Fanatics has taken over venue retail rights, which were held by Legends. Twenty licensees are on board, including longtime MLB rights holders like Antigua, Mizuno, Nike, Rawlings, Topps and WinCraft. New Era is the official cap for 19 teams. Nike is the official uniform supplier for the same group. Mizuno is the official cap and uniform for Team Japan. Fanatics is doing WBC collaborations with urban apparel brands Born X Raised and Undefeated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Major League Baseball is betting big on Asia \u2014 and early commercial returns from the 2026 World Baseball…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":620093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[41],"tags":[591,1801,1266,4281,62,67,132,8971,68],"class_list":["post-620092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-baseball","tag-international","tag-mlb","tag-print","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-upfront","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116143093568523276","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}