Sport in the Dominican Republic and the championship game that year brought in over $7,000 and commercial pressures led to the sport becoming a semi-profession in the Dominican Republic. Rafael Trujillo became president of the Dominican Republic in 1930 and he helped baseball soar in popularity as the sport gained a political connection. By the end of the 1930s, many of the finest Negro League players from the United States and Cuban players played baseball in the summer in the Dominican Republic as they were paid a fortune in order to come play. Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball in 1947
Professional sports leagues in the United States in North America. Founded in 1996 and beginning play in the 1997 season, it is the longest-running American professional women's sport league in history. The league's attendance has fluctuated over the last several seasons. It had an average per-game attendance of 8,039 in 2009 and 7,834 in 2010. Total attendance was 1,598,160 in 2010. In 2007, the league signed a television deal with ESPN that would run from 2009 to 2016. This deal is the first to ever pay rights fees to women's teams. In 2009 it had a total television viewership of 413,000 in combined cable and broadcast television.