Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

Baseball stars line up to invest in Dubai league

By Gavin Gibbon
Former MLB star Hanley Ramirez is one of the investors in Baseball United apardavila/Creative Commons
Former MLB star Hanley Ramirez is involved in Baseball United
  • Owners hail All-Star investors
  • Dubai launch event in November
  • Eight teams for first season

Baseball United, the first professional baseball league focused on the Middle East and Indian subcontinent, has amassed a roster of investors before the Dubai league’s launch in November.

Between them the investors boast a combined 222 Major League Baseball (MLB) seasons, 70 All-Star games and 14 World Series Championships.

The line-up of former MLB stars includes second baseman Robinson Cano as well as three-time All-Star and former batting champion Hanley Ramirez; All-Star and World Series Champion Matt Barnes; and four-time All-Star and former Cy Young Winner Bartolo Colon.

They join early investors including Barry Larkin, Mariano Rivera, Felix Hernandez and Nick Swisher.

Baseball United will launch with an event on November 10-12 hosted at Dubai International Stadium.

Its first four franchises – including the Mumbai Cobras, Karachi Monarchs, Abu Dhabi Falcons and Dubai Wolves – will each play two games over the three-day period.

The first full season next year will see the number of franchises double to eight with 65 matches planned. At least half will take place in Dubai with the remainder in Abu Dhabi and Doha, with two of the 2022 World Cup stadiums eyed up as potential venues.

There are 53 million avid baseball fans in India, 12.5 million in Pakistan, 1.5 million in Saudi Arabia and 800,000 in the UAE, according to Baseball United’s chairman, CEO and majority owner Kash Shaikh.

Latest articles

PIF's Starbucks shareholdings were cut almost by half from 6.3 million shares to 3.8 million

PIF slashes Starbucks stake as it cuts US stocks by $15bn

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has slashed its US equity holdings by 42 percent to $20.6 billion, including its stake in Starbucks, the global coffee chain that has suffered calls for a boycott as a result of the Gaza conflict. The latest US government data highlights funding challenges facing the Saudi giga-projects.  The filing […]

Tunisia olives

Soaring olive oil exports help Tunisia balance books

Tunisia’s soaring olive oil exports have almost doubled to close to $1 billion in just five months, helping it claw back its current account deficit.   However the increased revenues merely “paint over the cracks” and the country is still probably heading towards a sovereign default, according to an economic expert. Tunisia’s current account deficit narrowed […]

Iraqi prime minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani attends licensing rounds for 29 oil and gas exploration blocks at the oil ministry's headquarters in Baghdad

Falling oil prices deepen Iraq’s fiscal imbalances, says IMF

Iraq’s fiscal imbalances have worsened due to significant fiscal expansion and lower oil prices, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “The ongoing fiscal expansion is expected to boost growth in 2024 at the expense of a further deterioration of fiscal and external accounts and Iraq’s vulnerability to oil price fluctuations,” the Washington-based fund said in […]

Saudi aluminium producer Talco is offering 12 million shares

Aluminium producer Talco announces Saudi IPO

Aluminium producer Al Taiseer Group Talco Industrial Company (Talco) is the latest entity to reveal initial public offering (IPO) plans in Saudi Arabia. The Riyadh-based company, which was set up in 2009, is offering 12 million shares, a 30 percent stake, on the Saudi Exchange (Tadawul) at a nominal value of SAR10 ($2.67) per share. […]