Champions Japan threaten WBC boycott over revenue

“We are not saying we don’t want to take part,” union president Takahiro Arai said. “But we will not be able compete under the current conditions, which are unfair.”

Japan won the first two editions of the WBC in 2006 and 2009. However, the Japanese players received only 13 percent of total revenue from the last tournament, compared to the 66 percent the MLB and its players took.

If memory serves, they did something similar back before the ‘09 Classic. Highly doubt they will actually pull out, as either they will get a bigger slice or public pressure from the Japanese people will make them play.