THE Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees will play the first ever Major League Baseball matches in Britain next year at the London Stadium.
Two of the biggest names in the sport will go head-to-head in games on June 29-30 at the former Olympic Stadium, the first regular season games to be played in Europe.
Neither club or MLB officials have officially confirmed the dates, but a press conference with baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred and London Mayor Sadiq Khan has been called for Tuesday.
They are expected to confirm the games, which will both see the Red Sox be the home team.
Though yet to be official, Yankees manager Aaron Boone was happy to discuss visiting London ahead of Thursday’s match at Houston.
Boone said: “I’ve never been to London, so I’m looking forward to that.
“Can grow our game, obviously, in Europe and hopefully getting two big teams out there will be a great thing for the sport.”
Baseball officials have long hoped for games in London, especially after seeing the success American Football has enjoyed since playing regular season matches in the capital.
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They have decided the London Stadium is the best venue available, because having been built to house a running track it is wider than the other stadiums in London and can best accommodate the dimensions of a baseball field.
West Ham currently use the stadium for football for nine months of the year, and athletics has also been staged in the arena since the Olympics in 2012.
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But with the matches scheduled in June, that gives ample time for the work needed to change the seating configuration in the 60,000 capacity stadium so it is set up fort baseball.
As part of the arrangement each player involved will be paid an extra £44,000 to play in the two matches under baseball’s collective bargaining agreement.
The NFL has played regular-season games annually in London since 2007, holding 18 games at Wembley and three at Twickenham.
Three more NFL games are scheduled for this year, including one at Tottenham’s new stadium.
The NBA has played eight regular-season games at London’s O2 Arena since 2011. The NHL opened its 2007-08 season at the O2 Arena with two games between the Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Ducks.
MLB has put renewed emphasis on international games since Manfred became commissioner in 2015 but this will be the first time the sport has ventured into Europe.
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