A partire da oggi ospiteremo, per alcune settimane, i contributi di Matthew Kleiner (nativo di Albany, New York), studente della Temple University in Roma.

Struttura di formazione universitaria con la quale abbiamo stretto una partnership, per la realizzazione di una serie di “contents” in lingua inglese, con particolare attenzione ai temi dello sport professionistico a stelle e strisce. Temple University in America è una delle università più celebri e ha sede a Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.

Il logo della Temple University

West Ham United’s London Stadium will host MLB matches

(Matthew Kleiner) – Baseball’s historic rivalry between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox arrives at a new venue tomorrow night: West Ham United’s London Stadium. The two-game series this weekend will be the first MLB regular season games ever played on European soil. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced the London Series in May 2018, with Canadian telecommunications company Mitel joining as primary sponsor in November 2018.

Since 1996, the MLB has showcased its talent overseas on numerous occasions. Mexico and Japan, which already boast popular domestic leagues, have hosted several series, while Sydney Cricket Ground saw two games between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks in 2014. Before this year’s London series, a soccer stadium has never been repurposed to hold regular season baseball: almost 14,000 square meters of artificial grass and 2,500 square meters of dirt were brought in for the occasion.

Organizers hope that fans across the pond take to baseball as they have to American football. The NFL’s international series reached its highest attendance to date with over 85,000 spectators at October’s Wembley Stadium matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Jacksonvile Jaguars. Unlike football, baseball’s expansion projects will have to contend with the slow-paced sport’s declining popularity, especially among younger generations. History may be on the London Series’ side, however: “America’s Pastime” was invented in the UK, with the earliest mention of “bass-ball” dated to a 1749 Surrey newspaper article.