Less than three years after its establishment, Guyana’s national baseball federation, the Guyana Baseball League (GBL), has announced a partnership with Guyana cable TV/Info Tech giant E-Networks Inc. on the production of the nation’s first-ever baseball reality TV show, “Baseball Star”.
The joint venture between the GBL and E-Networks Inc.—which completed its first week of baseball auditions/filming at the end of February—will see initial broadcast delivery of Baseball Star’s episodes through E-Networks’ channel 1 in HD. The week following each episode, E-Networks will distribute Baseball Star content across its various media platforms and to all the major and local network television stations throughout Guyana to build a national audience.
USA Baseball CEO Paul Seiler—whose federation has given support to GBL on mapping out a strategic-plan for growth—applauded the concept of Guyana’s Baseball Star ‘talent search’ reality TV show.
“Truly groundbreaking. It will be interesting to watch this unfold,” said Seiler. “Well done.”
Guyana’s Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony, has taken note of the new baseball reality TV show and also expressed great interest in the pace with which the GBL has been growing baseball’s popularity in Guyana, especially among school-aged children, all of which has prompted the Ministry Of Culture, Youth & Sport to post an official statement on its website just a few weeks ago, in order to speak on baseball’s advancement in Guyana.
A similar ‘talent search’ in India generated massive national interest from the media and young aspiring baseball athletes, the subject of which has grown into Disney’s “Million Dollar Arm” movie, which is set to be released to worldwide theaters and audiences beginning in May.
The GBL, under President Robin Singh, was only established in 2011 and became recognised the following year as Guyana’s national governing body for baseball by the International Baseball Federation.
Situated in South America with neighbours Venezuela—where baseball is the national sport—and the emerging baseball country of Brazil, Guyana appears to be uniquely positioned for growth, to establish National Teams and to enter into international competitions in the short- to mid-term.
