Yankees vs Red Sox - in London

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Boris13c
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Why Yankees-Red Sox will play on turf, plus 4 other London game fun facts
When the Yankees and Red Sox face off in London in June, things are going to look much different. How different? That came to light Tuesday.

The teams will play on artificial turf for the first time in then more-than 2,200-game history, according to the a report from the Associated Press.

And the dimensions at Olympic Stadium won’t even closely resemble Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park.

Why turf? - Major League Baseball decided it wouldn’t have enough time to install grass at Olympic Stadium, where the teams will play on June 29 and 30 — the sport’s first regular-season games in Europe, according the report. The league will have access to the 66,000-seat stadium for 21 days and just five to clear it out, the report said.

“We looked really hard at doing a natural grass system,” Cook said, via the report. “We’re going with a synthetic system and it helps us a couple ways. It’s a little more sustainable, because we’re going back next year. If we went with a natural grass system, we’d have to bulldoze it all up, throw it away and then buy it again, build it all up, throw it away again.”

Outfield dimensions: It’ll be 330 feet down each foul line and just 385 feet to center field with a 16-foot wall, the report said. Yankee Stadium is 318 feet to left field, 314 feet to right field and 408 feet to center field. Fenway Park, meanwhile, is 310 feet to left field, 380 feet to right field and 390 feet to center field. Due to Fenway’s odd outfield construction, it’s also 420 feet to the deepest part of center field. Weights will secure the fences, since holes can’t be made in the running track, the report said.

The infield: While the teams will play on turf, there will be dirt in the infield rather than dirt patches around each base, the report said.

guess I'm out of the loop ... didn't know people in England cared about baseball
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It is no where near as popular as football/NFL over here, but it is starting to gain popularity a bit.... I don't think there would be much interest in two lesser known teams however.
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Boris13c wrote:Why Yankees-Red Sox will play on turf, plus 4 other London game fun facts
When the Yankees and Red Sox face off in London in June, things are going to look much different. How different? That came to light Tuesday.

The teams will play on artificial turf for the first time in then more-than 2,200-game history, according to the a report from the Associated Press.

And the dimensions at Olympic Stadium won’t even closely resemble Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park.

Why turf? - Major League Baseball decided it wouldn’t have enough time to install grass at Olympic Stadium, where the teams will play on June 29 and 30 — the sport’s first regular-season games in Europe, according the report. The league will have access to the 66,000-seat stadium for 21 days and just five to clear it out, the report said.

“We looked really hard at doing a natural grass system,” Cook said, via the report. “We’re going with a synthetic system and it helps us a couple ways. It’s a little more sustainable, because we’re going back next year. If we went with a natural grass system, we’d have to bulldoze it all up, throw it away and then buy it again, build it all up, throw it away again.”

Outfield dimensions: It’ll be 330 feet down each foul line and just 385 feet to center field with a 16-foot wall, the report said. Yankee Stadium is 318 feet to left field, 314 feet to right field and 408 feet to center field. Fenway Park, meanwhile, is 310 feet to left field, 380 feet to right field and 390 feet to center field. Due to Fenway’s odd outfield construction, it’s also 420 feet to the deepest part of center field. Weights will secure the fences, since holes can’t be made in the running track, the report said.

The infield: While the teams will play on turf, there will be dirt in the infield rather than dirt patches around each base, the report said.

guess I'm out of the loop ... didn't know people in England cared about baseball
At work, I have a few clients from the UK.

From what I gather, they have been getting into the NFL for quite some time. Not much interest in baseball. However, it seems like they'll go check anything out if it's made out to be a big enough deal.

I suppose it would be the same thing here. If the Premier League sent over Manchester United and Liverpool to play a real regular season match here (the league plays like one pre-season game here per year) it would be a big thing for the weekend. It would probably sell out a football stadium and be a success. However, if a team came here permanently, would it gather a sustainable following? No.

Same with baseball. They'll probably go to check it out and see the festivities surrounding it. However, the majority won't watch another game all season.
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