DON'T TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME, DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS, RE:

UNCLAS BERLIN 000389 STATE FOR EUR/PGI - REASOR; EUR/PPD - A. WHITE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KPAO SCUL GM SUBJECT: DON'T TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME, DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS, RE: BASEBALL REF: 18 March 09 Email from Lonnie Reasor to EUR DCMs ¶1. (U) Summary: Based on RefEmail request, Embassy Berlin spoke to sports officials at the German Ministry of Interior and at the Berlin office of the German Olympic Committee. Speaking informally, both offices were nonetheless clear that efforts to restore the Olympic sport status of America's national pastime would most probably not have German support and were unlikely to succeed. Neither office expressed specific awareness of IOC decision meetings and interim discussions as outlined in RefEmail. END Summary. ¶2. (U) Embassy Public Affairs was tasked with making contact with appropriate German sports officials in connection with subject diplomatic efforts on behalf of baseball as an Olympic sport. The Berlin office of the German Olympic Committee was unaware of any ongoing meetings regarding the future of baseball as an Olympic competition. EmbOff was given to understand that, at least for the German delegation, the matter had already long since been decided - baseball and softball will be losing their status as Olympic sports - and this decision was only awaiting confirmation by the full IOC in Copenhagen in October. Among other considerations, the German clubs that back these sports before the German Olympic Committee members had essentially withdrawn their support. Thus there was no one to speak on behalf of baseball within the German sports bureaucracy. ¶3. (U) The Ministry of the Interior's "Referat SP 4" is responsible for providing support to top German sports clubs and to Summer Olympics sports centers. As with the German IOC, Ministry officials understood that baseball and softball had formally ceased to be Olympic sports at the conclusion of the Beijing Olympic Games. They were however generally aware of efforts to have the sports reconsidered within the IOC, a matter which would be decided at the Copenhagen meeting in October of this year. However, Ministry officials pointed out that Germany would not be a strong supporter of baseball as an Olympic competition. The German Government's role in Olympic sports was to encourage and support participation by teams organized by the relevant national sporting clubs. Germany had been unable to field a baseball team at the Beijing Games, despite the fact that the president of its baseball club network, Michael Hartmann, was a sitting Member of Parliament. Ministry officials also asked which U.S. body was behind the current initiative to put baseball back into Olympic competition, since they understood that professional baseball in the U.S. had been largely unwilling to release top players to play at the Summer Olympics. This reluctance by professional baseball to commit top players to the event, one official felt, was telling and would make reversing the IOC's position on baseball very diffcult, whatever else might be attempted. ¶4. (SBU) Comment. Embassy approach to German officials was hampered by general unfamiliarity with the German sporting bureaucracy and the issues involved with Olympic sports. While Public Affairs had been tasked with making this approach, neither it nor any other Embassy section maintains an active sports portfolio or contacts. Embassy notes that the good-spirited Departmental request which launched this inquiry originated apparently from an official in the Office of Counterterrorism. It thus remained somewhat unclear to us whether the request was official, and perhaps even related to CT concerns, or might better be described as a good faith voluntary effort by State officials in support of America's national game. In either case, if reintroducing baseball as a competitive sport in Summer Olympic Games is indeed a U.S. policy initiative, it would have been useful to have that policy articulated formally in a cleared cable as a demarche, which the Embassy could have presented to the German Foreign Office or Ministry of Interior. Carefully considered talking points and a more thoroughly researched background to the issues at play would also presumably have accompanied the request. END Comment. KOENIG