The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) governing body has extended its commercial rights deal with Japanese advertising giant Dentsu for the next decade.
Through the contract renewal, Dentsu will continue as the strategic growth partner for the WBSC across its portfolio of top-tier international events through 2036.
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This number will include Baseball World Cups and Softball World Cups, as well as the WBSC Premier12 tournament.
Through its existing deal with Dentsu, the WBSC's sponsorship stable has been built out to become a program containing six top-tier global sponsors and five official suppliers, all through multi-year deals. Many of these partners are Japanese – for example, Konami, Kowa, and Nippon Express – thus giving one key reason for Dentsu's contract renewal.
At the last edition of the Premier12, held in 2024 across Japan, Taiwan, and Mexico, there were 36 partners on board in total for that event.
The WBSC has also claimed that the cumulative broadcast audience for that Premier12 edition came to "around 400 million viewers."
Chisato Matsumoto, president and chief executive at Dentsu, commented on the deal extension: "We are honoured to contribute to the growth of baseball and softball around the world through our long-term partnership extending through 2036.
"By bringing together Dentsu’s global network and the expertise cultivated in sports business, we will work alongside the WBSC to further enhance the social value of these sports and ignite excitement around the world.”
Riccardo Fraccari, the WBSC's president, added: "Dentsu has been an instrumental partner in driving innovation and delivering commercial success, and we look forward to further accelerating the growth of baseball and softball together."
In terms of recent WBSC commercial activity, in mid-June, the governing body struck a broadcast deal with All Women's Sports Network (AWSN), the US-based international broadcast network founded by media icon Whoopi Goldberg.
The multi-year agreement will see AWSN broadcast the 2027 editions of the Women's Softball World Cup and the Women's Baseball World Cup, which will span 2026 and 2027.
Dentsu, meanwhile, was recently unveiled as a strategic commercial partner of Volleyball World, the commercial arm of the sport’s FIVB governing body.
Dentsu has been appointed as the commercial growth partner for the VNL Japan Round and will manage commercial rights for the competition in the country from 2027 through 2032.
In the world of baseball, it holds distribution rights in Japan to North America's Major League Baseball through 2028.
