U.S Agents

This thread has a post from someone who knows an agent, so perhaps he would be a good resource to try.

So far as I can tell by reading the papers, they act on behalf of individual players. I don't know when U.S. agents started selling their wares in Japan.

I don't understand what you're askng for with the question about the "franchising of baseball." Could you elaborate?

Agents in the U.S. work on behalf of players. Players can change teams whenever their contract runs out, if they are waived or released, or traded. A contract can be anywhere from 1 - an unlimited number of years. Agents try to please the players by getting them the most money possible from the various teams interested as well as the number of years that player wants on his contract. There is no 10 year rule like in the NPB.

Thanks 4 both of the replies.

The query i had about franchising of baseball, basically i was wondering if there is any franchising going on within the baseball industry, i know this might be a bit on the marketing side but I've been reading a case study "He's Still a Big Hit" by Larry Whitside in the Boston Globe (1988)and there is a bit saying "the success of the Tokyo Dome points to the possibility of moving franchises and creating expansion teams linked to new major Legue-quality stadiums". I was wondering if any one Knows anything about this or anything along the lines of this.

Thanks

As far as the market for selling teams is concerned, the last time a team was sold to another was in 1989 when the Nankai Hawks were sold to the Daiei Group. There are rumors that Daiei is in financial trouble and is looking for a buyer. But it doesn't make much sence to me as their baseball team is probably doing better than some of their other investments.

Lotte moved their franchise from the old, run down Kawasaki Stadium to the brand new Chiba Marine Stadium in 1992. (I read today that they're planning on putting in real grass in 2003, one of the most requested changes by their fans - not putting a dome on the stadium as many in the front office seem to want to do.) When the first moved out there, it seemed that they couldn't get many people to come out. The surrounding city out there in Chiba seemed like a brand new high rise ghost town in 1992 on the weekends. Businesses eventually moved there, and having Makuhari Messa, one of the Kanto Area's largest symposium/trade show forum, next door has helped make Chiba a more viable place to host a team than when they first moved there. But I don't know how much a new stadium with the winds of Candlestick contributed to the franchise moving.

Many teams, now, have built domed stadiums of their own, and each had a boost in attendance their first year, declines the next as the "novalty" wore off. Daiei and Kintetsu have shown that attendance can be positive with championship teams.

There has been some talk about Nippon Ham moving from sharing Tokyo Dome with the Giants to the new Sapporo Dome in Hokkaido. The Seibu Lions have also talked about playing approxamatly half of their home games in the same new dome up north.

I hope this answers does a better job of answering your questions.

Thanks you for that info, it has given me a better understanding.