The Ramada Inn is the new title sponsor of the World Baseball Challenge, Aug. 12-20 at Citizen Field.
Tournament chairman Rick Pattie said Ramada has agreed to provide rooms for three of the competing teams - Canadian Sidearm Nation of Calgary, the Thurston County Generals of Olympia, Wash., and the New Mexico-based Roswell Invaders. The cash equivalent of the room package, Pattie said, is $50,000.
"We're very excited to partner with Ramada," Pattie said. "We were kind of strapped for good accommodations downtown and the Ramada stepped up and gave us a ridiculous discount to accommodate us.
"We had approached them before and they had given us a rate and it just wasn't going to work for us with our budget," Pattie added. "And then when some other things fell through I went back to them on my knees and said, 'Here's what I have, can we work with it, and I'll offer you the (title sponsorship) in lieu of your rate,' and they agreed."
The Ramada Inn World Baseball Challenge will also feature Team Japan and the Kamloops Sun Devils.
The opening ceremony is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Aug. 12. The first game, at 7:30 p.m., will see Canadian Sidearm Nation take on Japan.
Tournament packages are available through Ticketmaster and single-game tickets can now be purchased from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily at Citizen Field.
Ramada Inn World Baseball Challenge
All games at Citizen Field
Schedule
Fri., Aug. 12 - Opening ceremony, 7 p.m.
Fri., Aug. 12 - Canadian Sidearm Nation vs. Team Japan, 7:30 p.m.
Sat. Aug. 13 - Kamloops Sun Devils vs. Roswell Invaders, 4 p.m.
Sat. Aug. 13 - Thurston County Generals vs. Canadian Sidearm Nation, 8 p.m.
Sun. Aug. 14 - Team Japan vs. Roswell Invaders, 4 p.m.
Sun. Aug. 14 - Kamloops Sun Devils vs. Thurston County Generals, 8 p.m.
Mon. Aug. 15 - Canadian Sidearm Nation vs. Roswell Invaders, 4 p.m.
Mon. Aug. 15 - Team Japan vs. Kamloops Sun Devils, 8 p.m.
Tues. Aug. 16 - Thurston County Generals vs. Roswell Invaders, 4 p.m.
Tues. Aug. 16 - Canadian Sidearm Nation vs. Kamloops Sun Devils, 8 p.m.
Wed. Aug. 17 - Thurston County Generals vs. Team Japan, 4 p.m.
Wed. Aug. 17 - Roswell Invaders vs. Kamloops Sun Devils, 8 p.m.
Thurs. Aug. 18 - Thurston County Generals vs. Canadian Sidearm Nation, 4 p.m.
Thurs. Aug. 18 - Kamloops Sun Devils vs. Team Japan, 8 p.m.
Fri. Aug. 19 - Thurston County Generals vs. Roswell Invaders, 4 p.m.
Fri. Aug. 19 - Canadian Sidearm Nation vs. Team Japan, 8 p.m.
Sat. Aug. 20 - Bronze-medal game, 3 vs. 4, 2 p.m.
Sat. Aug. 20 - Gold-medal game, 1 vs. 2, 6 p.m.
