"Emerging from the shimmering heat in the desert outskirts of Dubai is an unfamiliar sight in the Middle East, a baseball field. Now that it's built, though, one question remains: Will the fans come? That's the challenge for the inaugural season of Baseball United, a four-team, monthlong contest that began Friday at the new Barry Larkin Field. It's named for an investor who is a former Cincinnati Reds shortstop, has the exact dimensions of the field at Yankee Stadium in New York,"
"The professional league seeks to draw on the sporting rivalry between India and Pakistan and their large number of expatriates in the Emirates. On Friday, the Mumbai Cobras played the Karachi Monarchs. Each team has Indian and Pakistani players seeking to break into the broadcast market saturated by soccer and cricket in this part of the world. And while having no big-name players from Major League Baseball, the league has created some of novel rules to speed up games"
A new professional baseball league, Baseball United, launched a four-team, monthlong inaugural season at the Barry Larkin Field on Dubai's outskirts. The stadium matches Yankee Stadium dimensions and uses artificial turf suited to the UAE climate. The league aims to tap the India–Pakistan sporting rivalry and the large expatriate population, featuring teams like the Mumbai Cobras and Karachi Monarchs with Indian and Pakistani players. The schedule runs through mid-December with mostly night games at a 3,000-seat venue located about 30 kilometers from the Burj Khalifa. The league introduced novel rules to speed play and increase scoring.
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