LA Dodgers May Open 2014 Season in Australia

While the rest of the baseball world is focused on the World Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers are looking to expand their brand overseas.

The Dodgers are reportedly in talks with the Australian Baseball League to begin their 2014 season down under.

NBA legend and new team owner Magic Johnson is in “advanced” negotiations with the foreign league, and the Dodgers would play their National League West foe Arizona Diamondbacks in a three-game series at the Sydney Cricket Ground, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The report also states the games will be televised to an estimated 300 million viewers in 81 countries, and could bring 25,000 tourists, generating $80 million for the local economy.

Johnson was an integral part in the group that purchased the Dodgers earlier this year for $2 billion.

While Los Angeles did not make the playoffs this season, when news broke that Johnson and Guggenheim Baseball Management would take over the team from Frank McCourt, the league shuddered at the potential the team could once again have in free agency.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the Dodgers have made a recent push to expand their global brand, as team management also made trips to Japan in the summer, and to Mexico last week.

In what could be a huge boon for the ABL, Sydney Blue Sox chairman Bob Turner spoke to the Morning Herald about the possible deal.

“If we can get Major League Baseball's season opener, which we're working on, in a couple of years' time at the SCG, it will really put the game on the map,” Turner said. “Especially if we can get the L.A. Dodgers to come, where Magic Johnson is the spokesman-owner. That would be great for the game to give us a profile no other sport can really match.”