WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier to be broadcast in 70+ countries and territories

The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) today announced the broadcast and live-stream coverage of the upcoming WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier, a qualifier for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad Tokyo 2020, will span more than 70 countries and territories.

Fans from all eight nations participating in the Olympic qualifier, as well as millions of viewers all around the world, will be able to watch baseball powerhouses from the Americas battle for a spot in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

"The broadcast footprint of our Americas Qualifier is a testament to the global appeal of our sport and the added value, build-up and awareness baseball brings to the Olympic brand," said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari. "Over these last 13 years off the Olympic programme, baseball has worked hard to evolve and solidify itself as a global product, and this qualifier, which will showcase some of the strongest baseball nations in the world, will further underline that."

Coverage and partners of the WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier include:

USA: ESPN +

Latin America: Claro Sports (with certain restrictions)

DOM: Sport Visión Canal 35

Venezuela: Simple TV, ByM Sports and Meridiano TV

Puerto Rico: Wapa TV

Cuba: Tele Rebelde

Canada: CBC

Nicaragua: Viva Nicaragua Canal 13

Colombia: Claro Sports

Italy: Sky Italia

Netherlands: ESPN

Europe: Olympic Channel (with certain restrictions)

Global with restrictions: WBSC YouTube Channel and Facebook Page.

Eight teams will compete from 31 May to 5 June in Port St. Lucie and Palm Beach, Florida, for a spot in this summer’s Tokyo 2020 Olympics:

Group A: World No. 2 USA, No. 10 Dominican Republic, No. 11 Puerto Rico and No. 15 Nicaragua.

Group B: World No. 7 Cuba, No. 8 Venezuela, No. 13 Canada and No. 14 Colombia.

The winner of the WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier will become the fifth national baseball team to advance to six-team Tokyo 2020 tournament, joining world No. 1 Japan, No. 3 Korea, No. 5 Mexico and No. 18 Israel.

The runner-up and the third-place team in the Americas Olympic qualifier will join No. 4 Chinese Taipei, No 6 Australia and No. 9 Netherlands in the WBSC Baseball Final Qualifier in Mexico.

The games in Florida will be the first international baseball competition since the 2019 WBSC Premier12, following a 2020 shutdown due to the global pandemic.

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Contact: media@wbsc.org

About the World Baseball Softball Confederation

Headquartered in Pully, Switzerland -- adjacent to Lausanne, the Olympic Capital -- the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) is the world governing body for baseball and softball. The WBSC has 210 National Federation and Associate Members in 138 countries and territories across Asia, Africa, Americas, Europe and Oceania, which represent a united baseball/softball sports movement that encompasses over 65 million athletes and attracts approximately 150 million fans to stadiums worldwide annually.

The WBSC governs all international competitions involving official National Teams. The WBSC oversees the Premier12, the World Baseball Classic and Baseball World Cups (U-12, U-15, U-18, U-23 and Women's), Softball World Cups, (U-12 Mixed, U-15 Women's, U-18 Women's, U-18 Men's, U-23 Men's, Women's and Men's), and official disciplines Baseball5 (Senior and Youth World Cups) and E-Sports as well as Baseball, Softball and Baseball5 events at the Olympic Games.

For more information, visit www.wbsc.org, which is available in six languages: English, French, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and Traditional Chinese.

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