P.G. Lands Major Sporting Event

Monday, July 23, 2007 12:52 PM

Get out the peanuts and crackerjacks! Prince George is hoping to host a major baseball event.

The official announcement was made this afternoon at Carrie Jane Grey Park.

Prince George will host The World Baseball Challenge in July 2009.

Invitations have gone out to six countries, although there is only confirmation from Team Canada and the Prince George Axemen, no international teams have indicated yet that they will take part in the week long event.

The event is a five team round robin tournament that will feature non professional players who have either retired from the majors, or are on their way up in the ranks and looking for a pro team.

The first World Baseball Challenge was held in Grand Forks, but Prince George is in a better position to host the event and make it a bi-annual tournament.

Prince George Mayor Colin Kinsley says "There is nothing in the world that can't be done in Prince George, and sporting events such as these are often the first contact that lead to economic or business opportunities."

Organizers say the expansion of the Prince George Airport to handle international flights is certainly a plus for an event such as this as invitations have gone out to Taiwan, Japan, the USA, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Samoa.

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Posted on Monday, July 23, 2007 12:52 PM in News by 250 Sports

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Comments

Posted by: Gofaster on July 23 2007 3:14 PM

Yep that is pretty major....
two teams.....
I'll just make sure I put everything
on hold for that....

Posted by: Norm1 on July 23 2007 3:21 PM

Somehow, the above response is one that comes to be expected.

Posted by: zoom on July 23 2007 3:25 PM

I have been to the tournament in Grand Forks and it is a great event.

Posted by: Gofaster on July 23 2007 4:06 PM

How can you have a tournament with , as they admit, two teams.
I am sure it has possibilities but shouldn't they wait until they know they have the teams before the chest beating begins.....
And to add to my comment that oviously hit a bad nerve, in the past there have been some great ball tournaments here...
"but they had the teams"

Posted by: Norm1 on July 23 2007 4:38 PM

Let's see what we know.

(1)Location announced as Prince George on July 23, 2007
(2)2 teams are currently on board
(3) need 5 teams for the tournament
(4) Tournament happens in July 2009...in 2 years
(5) Gofaster thinks it will fail
(6) Gofaster's experience with organizing events???????????

Posted by: Harbinger on July 23 2007 5:01 PM

It says P.G. lands major sporting event. Next is says, "P.G. is hoping to host....", followed by invites have been sent out...and then it says no teams have RSVP,d. The mayor says this is a great town. Last sentence says "the USA and Cuba " are invited. The only communist country in the Western Hemisphere and the Great Satan. I like good news. Should be interesting IF this event happens.

Posted by: Gofaster on July 23 2007 5:09 PM

Possibly

Posted by: lmorg on July 23 2007 7:13 PM

team canada could use this tourney as a tune up for other contests in late july/august.

The canadians in 2002 were a good venue and with a better park now PG would look better for a "world" tourney...however it is probable that other country's dance cards may be full during that time of year.....pan ams, etc .

Posted by: Palopu on July 23 2007 8:40 PM

The first event was held in Grand Forks, and the second event will be held in Prince George, how does this rate the event as a **Major**

Posted by: bohemian on July 23 2007 9:59 PM

Hello people - it's TWO YEARS AWAY. Of course there will be lots of other teams confirmed by then. The people behind this are many of the same people behind the VERY successful 2002 Senior Men's Nationals.

Posted by: Buzz on July 24 2007 2:36 PM

I really can't believe that some people find fault and criticism with this announcement. What a great country we live in, where we can have whiny miserable couch potatoes who have the luxury of criticising just about anything and everything that anyone tries to do in this city. If we listened to you complainers, we may as well as crawl into a hole and die because nothing is ever good enough for you and nobody is worthy of doing anything up to your standards, so what's the point of even trying?????

Holy cow, some of these comments are very depressing.

Posted by: Palopu on July 24 2007 7:00 PM

Buzz. Its not that this venture wont be good for the City and for baseball fans. Part of the problem is the hype that the City and some others put on it.

When it is to be held in Prince George it is of International Significance, however when it was held in Grand Forks we didnt hear anything about it. Same as the World Womens Hockey Team. When Prince George got the nod it became an International Event, however when it was held in Kenora Ont. it was basically ignored.

If Prince George would just hold these events and quit trying to make them into more than they are it would be fine.

Take the Container Terminal in Prince George. We are hyping this as a huge event with great significance, while at the same time in Grande Prairie, Edmonton, Saskatoon, and other areas that have these terminals, it is just a business venture. We are going to have industrie locating here, and manufacturing goods, and hiring people, and it will be the greatest thing since sliced bread. Duh??

Posted by: Buzz on July 25 2007 11:16 AM

Well Palopu, I don't completely disagree with you, but on the other hand I think our city has a poor self image in general, and the powers-that-be are trying to market us aggressively and turn everything possible into a 'positive'. I get a bit repulsed by fake positive message (Did you hear Air Canada's new slogan?: "Air Canada...We're not happy until you're not happy!). On the other hand, why not wave the flag and cheer a bit whenever we can, because we do tend to beat ourselves up quite a bit and the rest of the province holds their nose when talking about Prince George behind our backs. Just because Grand Forks and Kenora didn't jump up and down with glee doesn't mean we shouldn't build up these events and make a bit of hoopla over them. It is pretty cool that we're starting to be able to attract this kind of thing, with hopefully bigger and better things to come as a result.