Baseball pursues joint 2016 Bid with Softball

The Associated Press reports on Wednesday evening that the presidents of the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and the International Softball Federation (ISF) Dr. Harvey Schiller and Don Porter are scheduled to meet in Orlando, Florida on Thursday. Baseball wants a joint bid with Softball to get back in the 2016 Olympics. Baseball and Softball are among seven sports, which compete for two openings in the Olympic program.

A quote from the AP article:

Don Porter, the softball federation president, said in a telephone interview Wednesday that while he’ll listen to what baseball has to say, a joint bid is less than likely to happen “because we have to find some assurance — more than there is now — that it would be more than helpful for us to regain our Olympic status.”
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“There’s always a possibility, but it’s a matter of where our discussion leads to,” he said. “We’re in a fight for our lives for our sport. We’ll see where they’re coming from.”
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In a separate telephone interview Wednesday, IBAF president Harvey Schiller said that the two sports would help each other get added to the 2016 program. Schiller said the move would also let the IOC accommodate three of the sports bidding, rather than two.
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Several baseball federations, including those of Japan, Europe and Africa, have written to the IBAF supporting the idea, according to Schiller, a former executive director of the U.S. Olympic Committee.
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“We believe that such a joint bid should enhance the chance for each of our two sports,” the Baseball Federation of Japan said in a letter to Schiller this week.

Read the complete article on ESPN.com: Baseball hopes for joint ’16 bid