February 23, 200422 yr Hi everybody, I have just read on the today main italian newspaper that some Mlb officers were in Rome yesterday to close an agreement with the Baseball Italian Federation and the Minestry of italian sport to bring mlb to Italy. At the end of the meeting it was announced that there going to be a series played inRome at the Olympic Stadium in mid July 2005. The two teams chosen to play in Rome seems to be the Boston Red Sox and the Florida Marlins. Well, living in Milan, Italy, I would be the happiest man of the universe if this really happens but .. Boston vs. Fish?!?!? Could that be true?? I tried to check if there was any confirm on the mlb.com website but could not find anything. Do you think that could be true or what? Please let me know if you have more info or know where to get them! Thanks and ciao Luca
February 23, 200422 yr That would be cool except it would be wierd to choose mid-july. I would think they would do an exhibition game in like March or something.
February 23, 200422 yr Capefish, this question is directed towards you because I know you can answer it: What stadium can hold MLB in Rome? Any pictures? Thanks.
February 23, 200422 yr Author In the article it was mentioned that the series is going to be held at the Olympic Stadium whcih can held up to 70.000 people. This stadium is usually used for soccer games every sundays till late May and have a couple of international athletic meetings in the summer. I remember a couple of games of European NFL but that's not defenetely a baseball park. We do not have ballpark here like yours and local baseball games are played with no more than 1.000/2.000 people. It sound very strange to me but no reason to make the announcement adding so many details! Luca
February 23, 200422 yr Maybe the July date is because that is soccer's off-season. I find it odd that Rome was picked though. It is one of the few European nations were baseball is mildly popular, but I would think Holland or Greece would be a better choice because of how developed their baseball infrastructure already is.
February 23, 200422 yr The Greek baseball team in the Olympics this year is going to be made up almost entirely of Americans who have like grandfathers that are Greek. In Greece baseball is nothing.
February 23, 200422 yr Olympic Stadium in Rome is old. http://www.sfo.com/~csuppes/Olympics/1960Rome/index.htm I believe they recently added a retractable roof, and it is symmetrical, which means baseball there is easier than in the LA Coliseum. http://www.sfo.com/~csuppes/Soccer/Italy/Olimpico/aerial.jpg Another Estadio Olimpico
February 23, 200422 yr Wow that would be great. Imagine if they did FSN there, like at Panthers game they find Craig eating something or other. Tommy: Now we go to Craig with a view from the fans. Len: Craig? Craig: Oh sorry *wipes mouth* I was just eating the first course of the 9 course meal they serve at Olympic Stadium. Did I mention that the Ceaser salad is exquisite? LOL
February 23, 200422 yr Estadio Olimpico en Roma, Italia http://www.eurostadiums.com/stadiums.php?id=161
February 23, 200422 yr The Greek baseball team in the Olympics this year is going to be made up almost entirely of Americans who have like grandfathers that are Greek. In Greece baseball is nothing. Amazing! Another ESPN the Magazine reader! :cool
February 23, 200422 yr Games in Italia, like those in Japan, would be on ESPN or ESPN2 because they have first rights. FSN would not likely do the telecast because of the costs.
February 23, 200422 yr MLB has to open the Summer Games to MLB players. World Cup and Olympics. BTW, the Marlins will lose Boog for about a month or two because of the Olympics. He, like every two seasons since 2000, will host Westwood One's studio coverage of the Olympic Games.
February 23, 200422 yr Games in Italia, like those in Japan, would be on ESPN or ESPN2 because they have first rights. FSN would not likely do the telecast because of the costs. and we thought FSN did a crappy job in Puerto Rico . . . imagine em in Italia.
February 23, 200422 yr FSN did those PR telecasts last minute by bartering sending their two english play by play, director, and agreeing to air PR ads in the intros in exchange to access to the cameras. I just wish they had someone back in Sunrise do the graphics and scroebox/strip instead of Deported 13.
February 23, 200422 yr BTW, those of you that wish Sunshine still had the telecasts and were with the team post Fox, the games in San Juan last year with the rare scorebox, late/incorrect graphics, and no transitions was like what Sunshine used to do.
February 24, 200422 yr In the article it was mentioned that the series is going to be held at the Olympic Stadium whcih can held up to 70.000 people. This stadium is usually used for soccer games every sundays till late May and have a couple of international athletic meetings in the summer. I remember a couple of games of European NFL but that's not defenetely a baseball park. We do not have ballpark here like yours and local baseball games are played with no more than 1.000/2.000 people. It sound very strange to me but no reason to make the announcement adding so many details! Luca Luca, quale giornale? Grazie...e molto interessante.
February 24, 200422 yr Wow that would be great. Imagine if they did FSN there, like at Panthers game they find Craig eating something or other. Tommy: Now we go to Craig with a view from the fans. Len: Craig? Craig: Oh sorry *wipes mouth* I was just eating the first course of the 9 course meal they serve at Olympic Stadium. Did I mention that the Ceaser salad is exquisite? LOL roflmao :brigginbounce
February 24, 200422 yr The Greek baseball team in the Olympics this year is going to be made up almost entirely of Americans who have like grandfathers that are Greek. In Greece baseball is nothing. By infrastructure I obviously meant stadiums. Anyway, Greece already had a pretty competitive baseball team, atleast in European competition. They brought on ex-pats to help them avoid embarassment against the teams from the Americas and Far East.
February 24, 200422 yr Author Yes baseball in Greece is almost nothing!!! They are in the Olympics tournement just because Olympics are in Athens! In Europe there is a very weak level and only two teams play decent games: Holland and Italy: that is happening since years and in almost all the competition these two teams can sometime give big teams some hard times. Russia played a good european games a couple of years ago going to final bt still very poor level!! What I cannot understand is why bringing the games to Italy where the baseball market is almost nothing! I mean, we have all the espn games on air live, most of the postseason live and an everyday news about us sport. But baseball has not so many fans here. In the 60s was very very popular: not at the same level as soccer but had a lot of space on newspaper. Then popularity decreased and now you should see the stadium in Milan: it was built up in the late 50s and nothing has been done to improve or modify it. At the recent european champ. Italy played a game vs Spain and the field was so bad that it was decided to bring the rest of the games somewhere else. And that says all about baseball here!! jonnylons the newspaper which reported the news is La Gazzetta dello Sport which is the main italian sport newspaper and the most sold one! I cannot see any reason why they should have written a false news! The same news was reported by other two newspapers mentioning just Rome and mid July'05. I was thinking about how to fill the huge Olympic stadium (which was re-build in 1990 for the soccer worldcup): well, around rome is full of US army bases and I think that's enough. About the production, when NBA and european NFL have been played in Milan the tv production was fully controlled by USA (thank God!). From cameramen to directors everybody were from USA! But my first question was: Boston vs. Marlins???? A friendly series during a midseason break (worldcup?) or a mlb proper series? And if so it must be an interleague game: is that the correct period?? Thanks a lot Ciao Luca
February 24, 200422 yr I think they might get a worse turnout then the expos playing the d rays in montreal
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