There is nothing quite like the Baseball Winter Meetings anywhere else in sports in the world. There are global conferences like Soccerex, large gatherings like the Super Bowl and The Final Four, and every league has a version of business or coaches meetings at various points, but none come close to the thousands of would-be workers, executives, players, broadcasters and business people that converge in a site, usually in somewhat warm weather, each year the first week of December.
The combination of the Hot Stove heating up, players looking for key contracts and the face to face encounters that every key executive has makes The MLB Winter Meetings the place where baseball does their business right before the lull of the holidays. Combine a baseball trade show with thousands of vendors showing the latest promotional tools and innovations in fan engagement big and small, and a job fair that brings thousands of people from all walks of life to try and fill a precious few positions in front office roles in both the Major and Minor leagues, and a location like this year, the Opryland Hotel in Nashville that has thousands of tourists milling about and the interaction, accessibility and sometimes quizzical looks that go back and forth amongst business folk and fans is pretty unique.
More impressively though is that the Winter Meetings gives baseball a consistent offseason business presence to set the tone for the rest of the offseason and send some pretty clear messages to millions of fans through the media that come to the meetings, attend events and mill about the various lobbies looking for news. From columnists to bloggers, it is a hodgepodge of coverage for stories big and small, from hall of Fame announcements to player signings to offseason community initiatives.
One of those greatest initiatives is on the philanthropic side, as the Winter Meetings gives baseball a collective voice, through their communications staffs, to create a unique platform to fight all things cancer.
This year, Major League Baseball, the 30 MLB Clubs, MLB Network and MLB Advanced Media will hold a charity auction benefiting several charities. In addition to Stand Up to Cancer, a significant portion of the proceeds will benefit Do It For Durrett and the YouCaring page set up for Juan C. Rodriguez. The baseball family tragically lost Richard last year, while Juan, a colleague and friend to many on the communications side, is currently battling a very severe brain tumor. Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) is a groundbreaking initiative created to accelerate innovative cancer research that will get new therapies to patients quickly and save lives now and it annually has its largest-fan supported moment at The World Series and The MLB All-Star Game, where everyone in attendance honors someone with a custom sign.
While a great symbol, the Winter Meetings initiative is a great actionable and very loud next step, providing a bridge through the offseason for this great program, and showing the unity of a sport at a time when it might not be top of mind on the field, but is certainly in the buzz with offseason moves and business initiatives.
To bid on some incredible once-in-a-lifetime experiences in any of the 30 Major League cities, visit www.mlb.com/SU2Cauction until 9 p.m. ET on Thursday night.
For sure The Baseball Winter Meetings are part business, part spectacle and part collective dee breath for the sport as the cold weather approaches, but they also serve as a loud platform to spread the word about key non-game initiatives, and the league-wide auction is a great example of harnessing power for good.
