Why the Future of Global Sports Depends on Ecosystem Leadership: Insights from Jim Small, Former President of the World Baseball Classic

The World Baseball Classic is one of the few global sports properties that require alignment across professional leagues, national federations, players, broadcasters, sponsors, and governments—all operating with different incentives.

That operational complexity shaped how Jim Small approached the growth of MLB internationally and the evolution of the World Baseball Classic during his tenure leading both.

For Small, sustainable international growth was about building systems that could align stakeholders, deepen fan engagement, and create durable commercial value across multiple regions simultaneously.

Sports Ecosystems Create Long-Term Commercial Value

For Small, global expansion was about building systems that could compound fan engagement, participation, media value, and sponsorship growth over time.

If we do those three things in concert, we’re going to build our business, we’re going to drive more revenues, and we’re going to make the owners happy, because they’re going to have a billion-dollar international business somewhere down the road. But it takes time.

Why the World Baseball Classic Became a Global Platform

As franchise valuations continue to rise and ownership groups search for new growth levers, pressure is mounting to accelerate international monetization and justify long-cycle investment decisions. Small’s perspective suggests that many organizations still underestimate the operational knowhow required to make those ecosystems work.

The World Baseball Classic is perhaps the clearest example.

Unlike traditional league competition, the World Baseball Classic sits at the intersection of national federations, professional leagues, players, broadcasters, sponsors, governments, and fans. It is a true multi-stakeholder enterprise.

And according to Small, that structure creates a fundamentally different type of fan affinity.

Country versus country competition isn’t like anything else. Your dad loves the Yankees, I love the Red Sox, and we’re both cheering for the USA.

That emotional connection creates a level of engagement and commercial value that traditional league formats often struggle to replicate.

Influence Is Becoming More Important Than Control

One of the more notable themes throughout Small’s perspective is the growing importance of influence over control.

International sports ecosystems are becoming more partnership driven. Leagues may own intellectual property, but local growth often depends on broadcasters, governments, development systems, and regional operators that sit outside direct organizational control.

The executives succeeding in these environments know how to align different stakeholders around a shared commercial objective, even when they don’t control all the moving parts.

Small’s philosophy on international leadership is remarkably straightforward:

Same message, but different voice.

Baseball’s core value proposition doesn’t really change globally, but the way you communicate and commercialize it must change market by market.

In Japan, MLB could lean into legacy, star power, and existing baseball culture. In China, the messaging centered around timelessness, family participation, and accessibility.

That’s where many international strategies break down. What works in one market often doesn’t translate cleanly into another.

The Leadership Profile Required to Scale Sports Globally

This is also forcing leagues to rethink the kind of leadership they need. For league presidents and operators, that means building teams that can:

• Navigate complex stakeholder structures
• Build long-term partnerships internationally
• Adapy commercial models by market
• Balance centralized strategy with localized execution
• Operate comfortably without full organizational control

The organizations that scale globally over the next decade will not necessarily be the ones with the biggest media deals or the widest reach.

They will be the ones most capable of aligning partners, operators, and local markets around a shared long-term strategy.

That requires a different kind of leadership than most sports organizations were originally built for.