As several sources assure the Cuban Baseball Digest, as of today, the players who participated in the World Classic will begin to receive their money and Cuba will not be the exception.
The payment will be directly to the players and the Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB) will not act as mediator at any time. During the event, the athletes met with the players’ union and each one issued the bank account to which they should deposit their money. Three months after the end of the event, players will progressively begin to receive their cash prizes.
How was the money distributed in the World Classic?
MLB revealed before the start of the tournament the dollar amount that each team participating in the event would receive, in addition to the bonuses for winning their respective group and for advancing to the different phases.
Each of the 20 teams secured $300,000 just by their presence. It should be noted that 50% of the income achieved by each team will be distributed among its 30 players, while the other half will fall on the Federation of each country.
Según fuentes cercanas a MLB los jugadores del Clásico Mundial comenzarán a recibir sus pagos progresivamente a partir de hoy y Cuba no será la excepción. El dinero será depositado directamente a la cuenta de los Jugadores. pic.twitter.com/UMPK71aoJk
— Yordano Carmona (@YordiMLB) July 7, 2023
In the case of Cuba there is a peculiarity, since the money that goes to the Cuban Federation remains in the hands of the organizers, since said entity is limited to receiving that money for political issues that are known and today it is not known if the FCB received that money at some point.
A total of 14.4M were distributed, including the amount that was given to the champion team of this fifth edition of the contest, which was 1M dollars. Next, we provide the distribution of the prizes in stages:
-$300,000 for qualifying
-$300,000 for group winners –
$400,000 for advancing to the Quarterfinals
-$500,000 for advancing to the Semifinals
-$1,000,000 for the champion team.
The teams that did not pass the first phase will get about $300,000 dollars, they are the Netherlands, Panama, Chinese Taipei, Korea, China, the Czech Republic, Colombia, Canada, Great Britain, Nicaragua, Israel and the Dominican Republic. Australia, Puerto Rico and Italy that qualified second in their group and did not advance to the Semifinals earned about $700,000.
Venezuela will receive one million dollars, as it led its group, but did not advance to the Semifinals. Mexico and Cuba, who led their respective groups and advanced to the Semifinals, will earn 1.5M dollars. The United States was the only semifinalist to finish second in the group and by reaching the Final they secured 1.7M. The event champions who clinched their title undefeated and earned the most a team could will receive three million in this World Classic.