Published by: South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Published: March 10, 2009
Written by: Sarah Talalay and Doreen Hemlock

Baseball fans waving the Dominican Republic flag shouted proudly as the Dominican national team played the Florida Marlins in a recent warm-up for the World Baseball Classic that debuts in South Florida this week.

&“Vamos Hanley,” they cheered in Spanish for Marlins shortstop Hanley Ramirez, who will play for the Dominican Republic in the 16-team, Olympic-style contest.

As South Florida welcomes part of the World Baseball Classic for the first time, organizers hope for similar enthusiasm from residents and tourists alike. They predict the six games at Dolphin Stadium will inject at least $30 million into the area economy, a needed boost during a recession.

Created to promote baseball after the Olympics decided to drop the sport, the Classic this year features 39 games to be broadcast in more than 200 countries and territories. Its inaugural edition in 2006 drew more than 740,000 fans to seven venues worldwide.

Dolphin Stadium will host four teams starting Saturday: the best among eight playing an initial round in Toronto and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Most likely to arrive are the United States, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Dominican Republic.

Ticket sales so far have been slow, partly because the competitors won't be determined until Wednesday. And prices, ranging from $25 to $85 a game, are relatively high.

But organizers say at least 50,000 tickets have been snapped up, with more than half of those sold outside Florida, including 700 strips for all six games to tour operators in Venezuela. Immigrants living in the Sunshine State also are buying.

“The diversity of Miami corresponds very well to all these teams,” said Claude Delorme, a Marlins senior vice president who is coordinating the Classic. “It gives us a different fan base to energize around the Marlins as well. It’s a great opportunity to build a fan base.”

Delorme projects 25,000 to 30,000 people will attend each game, helping area hotels. Tourism officials expect that teams and fans will book the equivalent of 8,000 rooms in Miami-Dade County and another 800 in Broward County. Groups from Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Dominican Republic have reserved space at the Hampton Inn Hallandale Beach, to name just one property.

On a scale of big events, the impact of this year’s Classic remains modest. January’s two top-tier U.S. college football bowl games, including the national championship, brought about $220 million to the area, roughly seven times more, organizers say.

But organizers, including Major League Baseball and its players association, point to longer-term payoffs, as the event is played every four years and expands in scope. They’re hoping the tournament will boost baseball’s profile worldwide, spurring ticket and merchandise sales beyond the United States and its neighbors.

“Any business, when you reach a saturation point, you look to other markets. Sports is no different. Baseball, we think we've been at the forefront of that,’ said Paul Archey, Major League Baseball’s senior vice president of international business operations.

South Florida tourism leaders expect to reap more over time, too, especially if the area can host the Classic’s final round in 2013.

“It’s a new event. We anticipate it will grow and grow in importance,” said Bill Talbert, chief of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Some local residents already are eager. Luis de Rosa, who heads the Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce in Miami-Dade County, plans to buy tickets once his Caribbean homeland makes the cut and he finds out when it will play at Dolphin Stadium.

“Everybody is excited,” said de Rosa, noting a group of mayors from Puerto Rico towns attended a recent warm-up game for the island team held in Fort Myers. “[But] we don’t know the schedule yet.”

Several fans at the Marlins-Dominican game in Jupiter also plan to attend but haven’t yet bought tickets either.

“It’s a big stadium,” said Ana Brunet-Torres, a Dominican living in Royal Palm Beach. “I don’t think it’s going to sell out.”



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