MLB’s international push will take another big step this weekend, one also coinciding with one of the biggest matchups of the entire regular season. 

The Mets and Phillies will play a series Saturday and Sunday at London Stadium (above), home of the Premier League’s West Ham United. The event, part of the ongoing MLB World Tour, is the third set of games in London following Yankees–Red Sox in 2019 and Cubs-Cardinals last year. 

The U.K. games also follow those MLB played in South Korea and in Mexico to start this season. But unlike Asia and Latin America, where baseball fandom already is extensive, the league’s efforts to develop the sport in Europe have been more of an uphill climb. Along those lines, prior plans to play next year in Paris have already been canceled. The presence of the large-market Phillies and Mets—and their uber-popular mascots—in London is seen as a big step forward.

“We’ve clearly identified the U.K. as a priority market and an area that we plan to emphasize for international growth,” Chris Marinak, MLB chief operations and strategy officer, told the Associated Press.

Major Star Power 

While those games are happening in London, an arguably bigger event is occurring back in New York as the Dodgers visit the Yankees for a three-game weekend series. The slate marks the one meeting this season of two of the league’s most popular teams. 

With MLB’s balanced schedule format that began last year, every team now plays every other one during the regular season. But this Los Angeles–New York matchup brings together Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge—by many accounts the game’s two most popular figures—for the first time since the Japanese phenom signed a record-setting $700 million free-agent contract with the Dodgers during the offseason. It’s also the Dodgers’ first visit to Yankee Stadium since 2016, when Judge was a late-season rookie call-up.

Media Logistics

Saturday’s Dodgers-Yankees game will be shown nationally in prime time on Fox, forming a baseball doubleheader of sorts with earlier coverage of the first Mets-Phillies game, and horse racing’s Belmont Stakes in between. ESPN will have a similar high-profile grouping the next day with the second MLB game from London, and then the Dodgers and Yankees on Sunday Night Baseball.

“We’re looking forward to a monster weekend,” Andy Jacobson, ESPN producer, tells Front Office Sports. “Baseball is absolutely getting center stage this weekend, and we’re really excited to be part of it. For London, a lot of the content we’re developing will really be celebrating baseball and this new international frontier. We leaned big into that in Seoul, and will do so again here.”

Both networks, however, are anxiously awaiting news on star Yankees outfielder Juan Soto, who exited Thursday’s game against the Twins with forearm tightness and is set to undergo imaging Friday. 

For ESPN, meanwhile, there will also be a bit of intranetwork competition as the Sunday prime-time baseball game—to be preceded by a network sit-down interview with Judge—will parallel coverage of Game 2 of the NBA Finals on sister network ABC. 

Two of the longest-running and most entrenched makers of licensed sports league headwear and apparel are coming together in a deal poised to reshape the market significantly.

Buffalo-based New Era Cap—which has ties to the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and hundreds of colleges—is acquiring key competitor and fashion brand ’47. Headquartered in Massachusetts, ’47 was started in 1947 by twin brothers Arthur and Henry D’Angelo, while the Koch family has led New Era across four generations since its 1920 founding. 

Financial terms were not disclosed for this deal bringing together the two venerable companies. But New Era said the combined operation is projected to generate about $2 billion in annual revenue. Both the New Era and ’47 brands will be retained, and a deal closing is targeted by the end of the year.

“Our two companies have a shared history, having begun as family businesses dating back generations and transforming through passion and hard work into globally recognized brands,” New Era CEO Chris Koch said in a statement. “Through this transaction, we will offer a breadth of products across both brands and enhance how we serve our customers and partners around the world.”

Investment Matters

ACON Investments, a private equity firm that bought into New Era in 2021, will maintain a “significant stake” in the combined company. 

The agreement will give New Era greater scale, particularly as the entire licensed sports merchandise business continues to see widespread consolidation, much of it through the aggressiveness of Fanatics into additional areas.

Last fall, Reuters reported that New Era was considering an initial public offering worth as much as $5 billion. That potential of a stock issue still exists but, if it happens, will likely be at a higher figure.