Rick Pattie says he's 99 per cent certain the World Baseball Challenge international tournament is returning to Citizen Field this August.
Pattie, chair of the 12-member tournament committee, says the WBC is getting closer to raising its revised budget of $285,000, but still faces a funding shortfall.
Pattie will go before city council Monday night to ask for $20,000 to cover the tab for garbage disposal, bleacher seat rental and additional lighting costs with night games scheduled for the five-team tournament at Citizen Field, Aug. 12-20.
"We're having the World Baseball Challenge," said Pattie. "We're still out beating the bushes for financing but it's coming."
The WBC committee postponed the tournament in 2015 in the wake of the Canada Winter Games that year, which drained the sponsorship budgets of local businesses and tapped the resources of volunteers, but interest of the committee in bringing a quality baseball tournament to the city never waned.
So far, five teams have committed, with a sixth team still a possibility.
Team USA, also known as the Senators Red White and Blue, is a selection of players from three teams in the Pacific Coast Collegiate League.
Calgary Sidearm Nation, which features strictly submarine-style pitchers and could have former Major League pitcher Bill "Spaceman" Lee as the manager, is also on the WBC lineup card, as are the Kamloops Sun Demons and the Bahamas.
The Bahamas played in the original WBC in 2009 and returned in 2011 but lacked the financing to get back to Prince George in 2013. Pattie says Major League Baseball has been working closely with the island nation the past few years to develop programs and the Bahamas is increasingly developing quality college baseball talent.
The Sun Devils, an under-23 team, finished third at the Baseball Canada Senior Championship in 2015.
There's renewed interest from Taiwan, which played in the tournament in 2011 and 2013.
"They're working on their budget and Taiwan may still come, so we may end up with six teams," said Pattie. "They had initially turned us down due to the expense but they got back to me last week to ask if there was an opportunity to still come. They will take a look at the cost of travel and of course they asked for some assistance."
Pattie says the WBC is willing to fund the cost of a providing ground transportation to the Taiwanese from Vancouver to Prince George.
Cuba, the 2011 and 2013 WBC champions, won't be back this year. The Cuban team decided to forego its WBC invitation and begin league play earlier than usual so it can be finished in time for the national team to attend the Caribbean World Series in February.
Pattie said tournament passes will be the same price as 2013. Reserved seat tournament passes for all 19 games are $199, while grandstand general admission passes are priced at $149. Single-game tickets will be $15. Tickets will be available for order through PayPal on the website worldbaseball.ca or at the committee's soon-to-open office at 2274 South Nicholson.
The WBC committee is teaming up with the Lomak midget Knights (hosts of the double-A midget provincial championship Aug. 5-7) and the Prince George Senior Baseball League in a work-bee today to clean the area around Citizen Field and the adjacent Rotary Field, both of which will be used for the WBC.
