MLB.com expected to take over Internet services for minor league baseball

0 Comments | USA TODAY, January, 2005 | by Michael Hiestand

Finally, fans in Zaire or New Zealand might be able to go online to see real-time game stats, radio calls or even Webcasts of, say, the Savannah (Ga.) Sand Gnats or Jupiter (Fla.) Hammerheads.

Major League Baseball, at its owners meeting today in Phoenix, is expected to announce that mlb.com will oversee Internet and interactive media services for minor league baseball.

The 10-year deal with the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, governing more than 200 teams, means mlb.com will bring online mass marketing to the minors, whose attendance reached nearly 40 million last year.

Starting next season, mlb.com will sell minor league tickets and merchandise online and gradually increase live game audio and video coverage of games. Eventually,...