18.1 Mission and Purpose of .BASEBALL
Major League Baseball (“MLB”) is the oldest professional sports league in the United States and consists of 30 member clubs in the United States and Canada (the “MLB Clubs”) representing the highest level of professional baseball.
MLB Advanced Media DH, LLC (“MLBAM DH”) is a wholly owned subsidiary of MLB Advanced Media, L.P. (“MLBAM”). MLBAM, which is indirectly owned by the MLB Clubs, is the Internet and interactive media company of MLB. MLBAM is the exclusive Internet and interactive media licensee of the MLB Clubs, which are entities that comprise MLB, as well as related entities including, but not limited to, the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, Major League Baseball Properties, Inc., Major League Baseball Enterprises, Inc., and Major League Baseball International (collectively, the “MLB Entities”).
Through MLBAM, MLB has developed a highly successful, diverse, and innovative Internet and interactive media business. For over a decade, MLBAM has managed the Official Site of MLB, the official site of each MLB Club, and numerous additional related sites, to create the most comprehensive and popular MLB resource on the Internet. MLBAM offers many features via the Internet and interactive media, including up-to-the-moment game statistics and summaries, extensive historical information, online ticket sales, baseball merchandise, authenticated memorabilia and collectibles, fantasy games, live and archived radio broadcasts of games, live and archived video webcasts of games, and pitch-by-pitch enactment of games.
Further, through MLBAM, MLB is a widely recognized innovator in the area of Internet content distribution. MLB.com’s first live game webcast occurred in 2002, an innovation to better serve baseball fans in the pioneering tradition of the first radio broadcast of a baseball game in 1921 and the first television broadcast in 1939. Today, MLBAM’s MLB.TV live video subscription service is the most successful and comprehensive of its kind, distributing thousands of baseball games each season to a global audience of baseball fans on personal computers and wireless devices. MLBAM’s At Bat apps for wireless devices have consistently been among the most popular and highest grossing of their kind.
MLB is synonymous with the highest level of professional baseball globally. Indeed, MLB is often referred to in common parlance as “Baseball” for many reasons, including MLB’s long and rich history, its tremendous popularity for over a century and efforts popularize baseball on an international scale. MLB’s International popularity is demonstrated by the fact that game telecasts are distributed worldwide via the Internet, and internationally to over 200 countries via television.
MLB has supported numerous baseball leagues and organizations throughout the world, and is also instrumental in the grassroots global development of baseball.
The mission and purpose of the .BASEBALL gTLD is (1) to serve as a trusted, hierarchical, and intuitive namespace for baseball fans, and Internet users in general; (2) to protect MLB’s online presence, identity, brand, and intellectual property and related rights; (3) to offer a platform through which to provide a single-source identifying function for baseball-related information, content, goods, and services; and potentially advance other objectives including the following: expanding baseball-related online advertising, marketing, and promotional efforts; providing a new secure channel for the online sale and distribution of baseball-related information, content, products, and services; and potentially offering a new platform through which legitimate baseball organizations can distribute and exchange baseball-related information, content, products, and services.
MLBAM is analyzing potential use case options for the type of domain names that will be permitted for registration, as well as the potential universe of .BASEBALL registrants. In undertaking this research, MLB and MLBAM are leveraging their extensive knowledge, experience and relationships with commercial and charitable entities.
MLBAM DH currently envisions a three-stage rollout for the .BASEBALL gTLD:
1. Stage 1
The initial stage of implementation of the gTLD will involve MLBAM DH registering a limited number of .BASEBALL second-level domain names. This initial use will provide MLBAM DH’s information technology and security personnel the opportunity to conduct tests to ensure seamless and secure access using the .BASEBALL gTLD domain names.
2. Stage 2
Once all testing has been successfully completed, MLBAM DH will begin allocating domain names for use by MLBAM, on its own behalf, and on behalf of the MLB Entities. It is in Stage 2 that MLBAM DH will evaluate expanding the operations of the gTLD to permit registration by other third-party registrants. Should this assessment lead to a decision to extend registration rights, this expansion is currently planned to take place during Stage 3.
3. Stage 3
In Stage 3, MLBAM DH will evaluate a potential expansion of the registration and use of the .BASEBALL domain names by third parties with a separate, qualifying commercial or charitable agreement with an MLB Entity, such as, but not limited, to media rights holders, licensees, sponsors, strategic partners, sanctioned charities (“Qualified Entities”). Additionally, MLBAM DH will also evaluate whether to allow registration by third parties that have established themselves as a legitimate baseball entity (“Qualified Third Parties”). It is the current intention that MLBAM DH would require any class of future potential registrants to be in compliance with and legally bound by qualifying criteria. Any decision to expand the gTLD, would likely be predicated by a MLBAM DH analysis of the market for new gTLD registrations and consumer adoption of these new Internet addresses.
MLBAM DH anticipates implementing a throttle mechanism to ensure that any future expansion is controlled and responsible. This proposed “time-out” mechanism is described in greater detail in the responses Questions 45 through 50 of this application. Such potential expansion would be subject to a proper feasibility analysis to ensure that there are no potential impacts on the security and stability of the .BASEBALL gTLD.
The potential use of the .BASEBALL gTLD by Qualified Entities or Qualified Third Parties will be determined primarily by MLBAM’s future business strategies. Using current projections based upon MLBAMʹs existing businesses, future business plans, current domain name portfolio, and other strategic factors, MLBAM DH estimates that second-level domain name registrations will be consistent with the projections set forth in the financial template provided in the answer to Question 46 of this application. |