Opportunity Knocks at Women's Baseball World Cup

(ATR) The USSSA hopes hosting the Women’s Baseball World Cup on Florida’s Space Coast leads to more partnerships with the WBSC.

DJ Wabic, senior vice president of international programs for the USSSA, tells Around the Rings that the event could be "the start of multiple opportunities."

"Being in the Olympics is the largest global platform you can be on," he said, "and for us to be associated with that global brand, the WBSC, in any capacity is huge. Those (Olympic) rings inspire the next generation of athlete and for us, not only as a facility, but as a multi-sport association, we continue to want to give something for our athletes to strive for. I think this was the perfect opportunity to show what the possibilities are."

Don DeDonatis, Chairman of the Board and CEO of the USSSA, said the Women’s Baseball World Cup brings "credibility" to an organization that has been around for 50 years and moved into its new facility in Viera, Florida, earlier this year from its former home in nearby Kissimmee.

The USSSA, which stands for United States Specialty Sports Association, had a strong domestic presence, but becoming a member of the WBSC, "gives us that international flavor," DeDonatis tells ATR.

He said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari wanted to bring the Women’s Baseball World Cup to the United States for the first time and the USSSA was eager to support the event. Although the organization has staged more women’s fast-pitch softball than baseball events, it believed this was a good fit.

"For the president to want it here and for us to host it, we could show the community what could be coming in the future with baseball and softball and everything international," DeDonatis said. "This was a good relationship."

Although the USSSA Space Sports Complex has 15 fully-turfed fields on about 90 acres, only two are being utilized for the 12-team tournament, including the stadium.

Since officially opening in June, the complex has had tournaments every week. Before the World Cup, it hosted a military slow-pitch softball event with about 150 teams.

"We’ve run a lot of large events, but nothing of this international magnitude," Wabick said.

And while a youth tournament with 200 teams brings entry fees, the Women’s Baseball World Cup has added value in visibility and branding.

Wabick said the ramp-up of the event has brought "a ton of visibility. It’s really opened the eyes domestically of the opportunity of women’s baseball. It’s been kind of an unknown sport. It hasn’t been as visible as softball."

While the international federations here this week may not have seen the whole facility in Viera, Wabick said, "I think they saw enough to be impressed and to say, ‘Hey we want to continue to try to build a relationship and see what we can bring next.’"

The USSSA began as the United States Slow-Pitch Softball Association in 1968, but changed its name in 1998 to reflect its evolution into a multi-sports organization. It was originally based in Petersburg, Virginia, before moving to Kissimmee in 2005 and then to the Space Coast, where a model of the U.S. space shuttle is on the grounds near a statue of "Casey at the Bat."

When the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball moved their spring training site from Viera, the USSSA took over, renovating the stadium and building eight additional fields. With about $10 million from Brevard County, the total cost was about $30 million. Hurricane Irma took some of the back fields down, delaying the opening by six weeks.

Viera is a growing community with upscale homes. "There are going to be several thousand homes built," DeDonatis said. "Right now everything is just blowing up."

And the USSSA hopes to blast off as well, bringing more international events to its Space Coast Complex.

Written and reported by Karen Rosenin Viera, Florida

Coverage of the WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup is made possible in part by the World Baseball Softball Confederation.

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