The World Baseball Challenge went down on strikes. Rick Pattie, co-chair of the tournament, said earlier this week that this year's event - which was supposed to happen Aug. 14-23 at Citizen Field - has merely been postponed and will be back at the plate in 2016.
Hopefully that's the case. But, for there to actually be a WBC in Prince George next summer, organizers will need the equivalent of some ninth-inning heroics. When it comes to the immediate and long-term future of the tournament, there is a giant obstacle that will have to be sidestepped. In baseball terms, think of a six-foot-three, 240-pound catcher blocking home plate. Now envision that catcher wearing a uniform with giant dollar signs on it.
The 2015 World Baseball Challenge was knocked off track by a lack of financial support. Sponsorship cash simply wasn't there, thanks in large part to the amount of money the 2015 Canada Winter Games drained out of the coffers of local, regional and provincial organizations. For the WBC to go ahead, $600,000 needed to be raised, $100,000 of it by a Sunday deadline. According to Pattie, only $50,000 had been generated and no title sponsor had been found.
Money was in short supply this year, and finding it in time for 2016 won't be any easier. Even though the WBC no longer has to compete with another major event for cash, these are still tight economic times and businesses are having to justify every dollar they spend. And based on the rising cost of everything, there's a good chance a 2016 WBC would have an even higher budget. Conservatively, it's easy to envision an extra $100,000 being required. With teams like Cuba, Japan and the Bahamas probably still on the tournament menu, inflated travel costs (costs that are covered to one degree or another by the WBC) could especially be an issue.
Still with the financial challenges, one must also consider that a fellow by the name of Shawn Rice is no longer involved with the WBC. Rice was a co-chair with Jim Swanson of the 2009, 2011 and 2013 tournaments and, with his connections and tenacity, had a knack for finding money under every rock. If Rice was still part of the WBC's leadership group, there's no guarantee he would have had any more success in reaching the 2015 tournament's monetary goals but, chances are, he'd be farther along than the current number of $50,000. And, almost certainly, the WBC committee won't have Rice's skills to draw upon as fundraising efforts kick into gear for 2016.
Rice is still in town, but he and Swanson both stepped away from their co-chair roles in October of 2013, shortly before Swanson moved to Vancouver Island to take a baseball job with the Victoria HarbourCats.
The absence of Rice and Swanson leads to another question: can the WBC really survive without them at the controls? The proof is in the pudding, as they say, and so far all we've got is a postponement and a promise for baseball in 2016.
Swanson, it should be mentioned, is still linked to the WBC as a liaison between the tournament and the teams and his presence in that capacity is a definite positive moving forward. More on him in a moment.
Another problem is that once events like the WBC miss a scheduled year, they tend to fade from the memory of a community. Fans - and sponsors - can easily forget about all the good things they brought and can lose interest in supporting them in the future. So, in the next year or so, WBC organizers would be well-advised to take extraordinary measures to keep the tournament top-of-mind in this city. Regular updates through traditional and social media, as well as special promotional events, will be essential. A kick-butt marketing package, including a splashy online video about the history of the tournament, would also help.
Lastly, to keep the WBC alive for next year and beyond, organizers will have to regain the confidence of the teams they had to cancel on this year. Those clubs - Canada, the U.S., Cuba, Japan and the Bahamas - had the tournament penciled in on their schedules and will now have to make new plans.
Will they take their 2016 invitations seriously or will they have justifiable doubts? Swanson will be a key figure in easing any concerns, as, over the years, he's the man who has formed the closest relationships with the clubs.
Ideally, the WBC will make its return in 2016. For baseball fans and sports fans in general, it has always been a wonderfully entertaining event, one that has spoiled us with its pro-like atmosphere and quality of play. As for financial impact, the first three editions pumped an estimated $7 million into the local economy - not exactly chump change.
But there's much work to be done. And the countdown clock to a potential first pitch is already ticking.
