Australian Baseball League to unveil international conference schedule geared for global audience as league chief and team owners forge ahead towards 2020-21 Opening Series
RADICAL made-for-television Australian Baseball League “international conference” schedule geared to global audience to be unveiled next week, as league bosses and owners forge ahead towards the 2020-21 Opening Series.
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BASEBALL Australia chief executive Cam Vale has vowed to get the 2020-21 Australian Baseball League season away despite the complexities with travel and player availability.
The league will next week lodge its applications for exemptions from the Australian Department of Home Affairs for international players from the United States, Japan and Korea.
The ABL’s international conference schedule, which is subject to change, will also be unveiled then.
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Brisbane Bandits, Adelaide Giants, Geelong-Korea and Auckland Tuatara make up the conference slated for a four-week round-robin festival of baseball geared to international broadcast audiences.
Teams will be required to play six made-for-television seven-inning games each week in “rolling hubs”, the locations to be determined in coming days, including morning time-slots to suit American viewers.
The Australian conference, made up of Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and Perth, is due to start on December 18 but Vale conceded the West Australian border ban complicated the situation.
“If we were looking to play that today, that (Perth-Canberra) series is very unlikely to occur because Canberra would not be able to enter Perth without doing the quarantine,” Vale told News Australia.
“We got a Plan A that we’re looking to make happen, as best as we possibly can without having our head in the sand to go we don’t have plans B, C and D.
“But cancelling the ABL is well and truly not in the alphabet of options at this point in time.”
Vale confirmed an October deadline would determine a course for the Australian conference amid a threat of an ongoing border ban.
“This month is pretty critical,” Vale said.
“By the end of October, if we have a logistic issues that means a series couldn‘t be played well then plan B starts becoming pretty prominent.
“We can‘t make a decision a week out from a series starting … if we hit November and still can’t fly from Canberra to Perth we need to be thinking pretty hard about … the Opening Series.”
Vale has noted the concerns from passionate ABL fans about the upcoming season.
“The fans are rightly nervous, or doubt the season will go ahead because it is the Australian Baseball League and not the Australian Football League,” Vale said.
“But as a hyper-sport we can adapt quicker because it is a smaller machine.
“We got to adapt to the circumstances that are presented and plan as best as we can to mitigate the risks, but we’re not playing for two months, a lot can happen, good and bad in two months.”
Vale has the backing of ABL team owners to work through the varied scenarios.
But approvals for international players remains the No. 1 priority despite the league open to an Australians-only model should it be necessary.
With Olympic qualification next year the domestic season is effectively a Team Australia audition.
“We‘re surviving to thrive on the other side because the broadcast interest out of the US is very good because so much baseball has been lost (this year due to COVID),” Vale said.
“It is tough working through all the scenarios as a sport that just can’t throw money at the problem, but you got to have a crack at it … and make this season happen, and I’m confident that we will.”