European League Baseball

roolz · 04-21-2012, 05:34 PM

**Writers note**
This has probably been done a million times and then some... the fantasy of Europe having its own 'Majors' is only reliveable via OOTP, so apologies if this goes over familiar ground, but its something ive fancied doing.

Background
1980s and times are progressing, technology is ticking along and Cable/Satellite companies are really coming to the fore in Europe and driving a thirst for new programming to reach the millions that now have access to this media tidalwave.

Sport in Europe has pretty much always been about Football (Soccer), nothing can compete with the European Cup for its history and mystique. Other sports play their role, Ice Hockey in the 'colder climbs', Basketball has its place across the med and into Central Europe... Handball even carries weight and I could carry on into various regional sport favourites, but thats not why we are here.

Lets get to the point, Baseball and the move to make it 'Major' in Europe. The (Excuse the pun) ball began rolling when TV executives were looking for a sport to come across to Europe to fill gaping holes in TV schedules. Somehow or somewhy the MLB become one of those fillers 'on the cheap' as it were, a niche sport probably not able to crack the UK market due to Cricket and possible to long to hold younger viewers interest.

However the figures proved otherwise and when the MLB became one of the major sports on Satellite networks across Europe, the game started to grow locally and fast. By the time 1984 came along at least 4 nations in Europe were running a semi professional baseball league and there was a hunger for more.

To feed that hunger a European Baseball Association was setup, founded in France and led by Hans Jorg (Germany), Giovane Palmieri (Italy), Garcia Ramos (Spain) and Jean Christophe-Faulet (France). These 4 men proved to be the revolution behind a movement that would eventually find itself named the European League of Baseball or ELB for short.

Feelers and discussions went out across Europe, who wanted in, who wanted a piece of the pie... yes TV money was involved, commercialism was expected on a grand scale and the race to be a part of this culture became unprecedented. Over 100 cities in Europe applied for a licence, the decisions were difficult but in the end the innaugural ELB presented by Amstel would open in 1988.

roolz · 04-21-2012, 06:32 PM

The Setup
The EBA concluded that a 38 team structure would be the route forward, based on location but also licence bidding that ensured each team would be backed financially for at least 10 years to prevent a major collapse or contraction in teams.

Interestingly the teams would be divided into National Divisions (bar one which is location based) as the focus was on ensuring each nation could have a team in the playoffs competing for the 'Amstel' European Series.

Divisions as follows:
British - 6 teams
French - 4 teams
German - 8 teams
Dutch - 5 teams
Italian - 5 teams
Spanish - 4 teams
Russian - 3 teams
Scandanavian - 3 teams (2 SWE / 1 DEN)

The teams will play each other 4 times totalling 148 games and the winner of each division will advance to the Quarter Finals of the playoffs where by all rounds are best of 5.

Some Rules
5 Player Foreigner Limit
No salary cap
20 player roster limit and no expansion
Trades allowed
No waivers
DH Rule On

AstaSyneri · 07-06-2012, 08:02 AM

Doing something similar with my European League of Champions ;-).

How do you enforce no foreigners getting into the league?

I have 27 countries and set the league to Europe-at-large (still fiddling with set-up rules, before inaugural draft) and I'd like the players to be generated from those 27 countries... and not from out of EU-countries.

04-21-2012, 05:34 PM	#1
roolz Bat Boy Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 11	European League Baseball Writers note This has probably been done a million times and then some... the fantasy of Europe having its own 'Majors' is only reliveable via OOTP, so apologies if this goes over familiar ground, but its something ive fancied doing. Background 1980s and times are progressing, technology is ticking along and Cable/Satellite companies are really coming to the fore in Europe and driving a thirst for new programming to reach the millions that now have access to this media tidalwave. Sport in Europe has pretty much always been about Football (Soccer), nothing can compete with the European Cup for its history and mystique. Other sports play their role, Ice Hockey in the 'colder climbs', Basketball has its place across the med and into Central Europe... Handball even carries weight and I could carry on into various regional sport favourites, but thats not why we are here. Lets get to the point, Baseball and the move to make it 'Major' in Europe. The (Excuse the pun) ball began rolling when TV executives were looking for a sport to come across to Europe to fill gaping holes in TV schedules. Somehow or somewhy the MLB become one of those fillers 'on the cheap' as it were, a niche sport probably not able to crack the UK market due to Cricket and possible to long to hold younger viewers interest. However the figures proved otherwise and when the MLB became one of the major sports on Satellite networks across Europe, the game started to grow locally and fast. By the time 1984 came along at least 4 nations in Europe were running a semi professional baseball league and there was a hunger for more. To feed that hunger a European Baseball Association was setup, founded in France and led by Hans Jorg (Germany), Giovane Palmieri (Italy), Garcia Ramos (Spain) and Jean Christophe-Faulet (France). These 4 men proved to be the revolution behind a movement that would eventually find itself named the European League of Baseball or ELB for short. Feelers and discussions went out across Europe, who wanted in, who wanted a piece of the pie... yes TV money was involved, commercialism was expected on a grand scale and the race to be a part of this culture became unprecedented. Over 100 cities in Europe applied for a licence, the decisions were difficult but in the end the innaugural ELB presented by Amstel would open in 1988.

04-21-2012, 06:32 PM	#2
roolz Bat Boy Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 11	The Setup The EBA concluded that a 38 team structure would be the route forward, based on location but also licence bidding that ensured each team would be backed financially for at least 10 years to prevent a major collapse or contraction in teams. Interestingly the teams would be divided into National Divisions (bar one which is location based) as the focus was on ensuring each nation could have a team in the playoffs competing for the 'Amstel' European Series. Divisions as follows: British - 6 teams French - 4 teams German - 8 teams Dutch - 5 teams Italian - 5 teams Spanish - 4 teams Russian - 3 teams Scandanavian - 3 teams (2 SWE / 1 DEN) The teams will play each other 4 times totalling 148 games and the winner of each division will advance to the Quarter Finals of the playoffs where by all rounds are best of 5. Some Rules 5 Player Foreigner Limit No salary cap 20 player roster limit and no expansion Trades allowed No waivers DH Rule On

07-06-2012, 08:02 AM	#3
AstaSyneri Minors (Double A) Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Münster, Germany Posts: 182	Doing something similar with my European League of Champions ;-). How do you enforce no foreigners getting into the league? I have 27 countries and set the league to Europe-at-large (still fiddling with set-up rules, before inaugural draft) and I'd like the players to be generated from those 27 countries... and not from out of EU-countries.