A baseball delegation recently had an appointment at the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior, and there was good news: After months of negotiations, the association is now receiving funding again, “from budget remnants,” says official Armin Zimmermann. In 2022, baseball was dropped from funding because it was no longer Olympic. A gap of 100,000 euros opened up, which is mainly used to pay for permanent trainer positions at the Regensburg location. This prevents these positions from having to be completely eliminated, which would have set the sport back in its development. And there’s even more good news coming in August: There are early signs that Los Angeles may soon announce that baseball will be reinstated at the 2028 Olympics. This news comes just in time for the big hit that is planned in German baseball.
As a baseball stronghold in southern Germany, Regensburg is heavily involved in its planning. Armin Zimmermann is not only President of the Bundesliga club Regensburg Legionnaires, but also Vice President of the Federal Association, responsible for finances. His motivation behind the office was to get the new German Baseball League off the ground. It should start in 2025, and you should be able to buy there as a team. Organized by an association-independent league, as it also exists in ice hockey, for example.
Clubs like Regensburg will meet the requirements more easily, they already have adequate stadiums
Most of the ideas are still in people’s minds and have not yet been put on paper, but it is already certain that the first league should be single-track, i.e. southern and northern squadrons should be abolished. And: It will almost certainly come. “We invited people to a workshop almost three years ago,” says Zimmermann. The feedback was largely positive. A few days ago, marketing expert Markus Jaisle, a manager who doesn’t have a background in baseball but has a lot of experience in public relations, was deliberately hired. When asked about it, Jaisle says he’s at the very beginning, but he’s already certain of one thing: “The American spirit has to be supported.” This can also be seen in the surge in popularity of American football in Germany. He sees a lot of potential in it to attract viewers, who are still missing in some places, but are necessary for a good media image.
For some clubs, such as Regensburg, professionalization will be relatively easy to manage – they already have a large stadium and an excellent infrastructure. The demands on smaller clubs are likely to be enormous. For example, a future first division team will have to have a real stadium, with floodlights and zones for TV cameras, and full-time employees would have to be hired. Even some first division baseball teams currently only have a training ground ambience.
In Munich or Gauting, they see opportunities rather than risks
There are also skeptical voices, but most Bavarian clubs apparently see more of an opportunity in the plans. “It will be financially difficult, but we definitely want to bring a Munich team into the league,” says Tom Wolf, board member at Munich-Haar Disciples. The traditional club just failed in the quarter-finals for the German championship at the Bonn Capitals, but reaching the playoffs and a win in the best-of-three series against the big favorite were respectable successes that showed that the Disciples to the extended group of candidates future professional league count.
“We could have taken this step much earlier,” says Christopher Howard, who already played for Regensburg and managed in Haar. Among other things, he is currently head coach at the second division club Gauting Indians. The Indians have also been premier, just won their division and are in the playoff quarterfinals. “We’re bursting at the seams here, we could easily found three new teams right now,” he says. There are currently around 200 active Indians, 110 of them junior players. For them, a professional league would be a good perspective to stay. Above all, you can approach the municipality much better with a clear league concept.
When the last playoff games are played in autumn, the concept for the new league should be submitted for approval. In the current Bundesliga, exciting games seem to be waiting until then: “The league has gotten better overall,” says Armin Zimmermann, the results are tighter and more difficult to predict. And so, Zimmermann believes, the reform has come at the right time.
