Alongside the NPB Commissioner, Katsuhiko Kumazaki, Fraccari briefed the league representatives on the factors that would likely influence baseball and softball’s place in future Olympic Games.

They included the need for a collective vision as well as involvement and support from all the world’s professional baseball leagues to further globalise the sport and deliver the best possible Olympic baseball event.

It was the first NPB Owners Meeting since the International Olympic Committee unanimously voted last month to add men’s baseball and women’s softball events to Tokyo 2020 along with four karate, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing. 

Fraccari claimed that 2020 "will be a historical turning point that can either result in the widespread diffusion and popularity of baseball or confine baseball to the corner of world sport”.

The NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan and is the second-highest attended professional sports league in the world, with more than 24 million fans watching matches live in 2015.

The world governing body leader also expressed his gratitude to NPB for their strengthened partnership with WBSC, which led to the successful launch of the newest international flagship competition WBSC Premier12 in 2015 and helped to solidify baseball/softball’s 2020 Olympic bid.

The WBSC Premier12 is the flagship international baseball tournament organised by the sport's governing body, featuring the 12 best-ranked national baseball teams in the world. 

More than 250 million households worldwide watched action at the inaugural Premier12 competition in Japan and Taiwan last year, which was won by South Korea.