Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper has urged Major League Baseball to make the London Series a four-team, round-robin event in multiple cities across the UK, as the two-time MVP prepares to put on a show in the capital.
Harper’s Phillies will play New York Mets, their fierce rivals, in a two-game series at West Ham United’s London Stadium this weekend, the third time baseball has come to the English capital.
The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox played the first two MLB games in Europe in 2019, before the Chicago Cubs and St Louis Cardinals came to London last summer after their planned 2020 series was cancelled due to Covid.
Harper, 31, has been one of sport’s most influential players for more than a decade, having been crowned the ‘Chosen One’ and ‘the most exciting prodigy since LeBron James’ on the front of Sports Illustrated when he was just 16.
As a rare example of a player living up to such hype, winning the National League MVP award in 2015 and 2021, a seven-time All-Star and recipient of a 13-year, $330million (£262m) contract from Philadelphia in 2019, his demands will carry significant weight.
Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper wants to see the London series expaneded
Harper and his team play the New York Mets twice in London over the coming weekend
‘We’re excited as a team to get there and play in front of different fans,’ said Harper. ‘Obviously they love their football and being able to go into a different country and play in front of a new fanbase is going to be a really fun time for us, and fun time for them.
‘I wish that Major League Baseball would bring four teams over there, make it a round robin and stay there for a week and a half or two weeks, just so they can rally around it.’
Adding games to the London Series could be more amenable to players, who have just 23 off-days during six months of games and would use up three travelling to and from the UK, including a rest day.
‘It’s so in and out and so quick, it would be fun to roam across the country a bit, take the trains into different places. I think it would be a lot of fun,’ said Harper.
‘Me and my wife went to the UK a couple of years ago, we enjoyed it. My sister-in-law is from Manchester, so we’re going to enjoy that with her as well, and we’re excited.’
The current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between MLB and its players union runs to 2026, with provision for another two-game London Series that year. Plans for a series in Paris next summer at the Stade de France have been shelved, but additional or expanded series cannot be brought in until the new CBA comes in in 2027.
The NFL offers a model for expansion, having hosted one game per year in London from 2007-12 before growing, topping out at four in 2019 before coming back to three since the pandemic, at Wembley and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The Jacksonville Jaguars opened the possibility of American teams making extended stays in London, becoming the first NFL team to play back-to-back games in the UK last October and spending 10 days in London.
Harper said he would like to play other games across England, outside of London
Harper was backed by his head coach Rob Thomson, a latecomer to the top job at 59 in 2022 and having led the Phillies to the second-best record in baseball this season (44 wins, 19 losses) heading into their weekend in London.
Asked about baseball’s trips across the pond, Thomson said: ‘I hope it lasts forever. This is a great experience for all. Growing the sport all over the world, if we can have competitive baseball in every country in the world the sport’s only going to be better.
‘This is a great facility, and it seems like the people of Great Britain have really taken to this and they come out.’
But meeting Harper’s wish of finding stadiums outside London large enough to host baseball may be tricky. London Stadium can accommodate the vast dimensions due to movable seats and a huge area outside of its football pitch due to the athletics track from the 2012 Olympics.
The London Series organizers did size up the Oval cricket ground before eventually choosing the Olympic site.
New York Mets play Philadelphia Phillies in the MLB World Tour: London Series 2024 on June 8-9 at London Stadium. Tickets on sale at ticketmaster.co.uk/MLB
