グローバル化する新興プロ野球
-「野球不毛の大陸」への橋頭保としてのイタリアプロ野球-

抄録

    In recent years professional baseball leagues have been started in some areas in which baseball has been considered to be unpopular.
    Alan Klein, an authority on the study of the globalization of baseball, claims that baseball diffusion will be promoted in developing areas where it promotes escape from poverty, and that it is hard to envision baseball’ s diffusion and the development of professional baseball business in developed countries, especially in Europe, which is proud of the overwhelming popularity of football.
    However, in practice, new professional baseball leagues have been started in some economically rich countries in the 2000s. This paper analyzes the Italian Baseball League (IBL) , which started its inaugural season in 2010, in order to investigate the background of the rise of new professional leagues in developed countries and the prospects for their future.
    This paper claims the factors promoting the diffusion of baseball in Europe and the foundation of the professional league in Italy are; 1) Expansion of a network of scouting and marketing by the MLB, 2) Job shortages for younger people, accompanied by the rationalization of the selection of professional athletes as an unstable job with low wages. Considering these factors, we can envision the development of small-scale professional baseball business in areas where baseball has not traditionally been popular. Along with the expansion of the international flow of players in the baseball world, such as through the MLB in which players can expect high remuneration, the development of a semi-professional system in which players can get jobs during the baseball season is also suggested.