The New York Yankees have informed Major League Baseball they would like to be involved when the league plays its first-ever games at Paris in 2025, according to the Associated Press. The Los Angeles Dodgers previously expressed interest in the Paris games.
"That's cool. It sounds pretty exciting," Yankees ace Gerrit Cole told the Associated Press. "That's going to be a really special opportunity."
As part of the new collective bargaining agreement, MLB and the MLB Players' Association agreed to play a series of games internationally, and Paris is on the list of destinations. The Paris games are scheduled for June 2025. MLB is also planning to play games in the Dominican Republic, London, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Paris and the Dominican Republic are new destinations.
The Paris games would be played at Stade De France, an 80,000-seat stadium that opened in 1998 and is home to the France national soccer and rugby teams. In 2019, the Yankees and Boston Red Sox played two games at London. Those were MLB's first games in Europe and were played at London Stadium, another converted soccer facility.
MLB has not played any games outside the United States or Canada since 2019 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The league is anticipating a return to London in 2023. MLB has also previously played regular season games in Australia, Japan, Mexico and Puerto Rico.
The NBA played a game at Paris in January 2020 and will return in 2023. Paris will also host the 2024 Summer Olympics.
