More than 35,000 ticket strips that included the two March 18 Semi-Final games and the March 20 Final were sold during an initial round of sales in December.  As a result, approximately 5,000 tickets for each of the three games (a total of 15,000 seats) will be available on February 11.      Prices for tickets to the World Baseball Classic Semi-Finals and Final will range from $15 (Park Passes) to $60 (Field Reserved).

            Individual game tickets for first and second round World Baseball Classic games remain on sale at the event’s official Web site.  The tournament’s four Round 1 pools will be played at venues in Japan (Tokyo Dome – Tokyo), Puerto Rico (Hiram Bithorn Stadium – San Juan) and the United States (Chase Field – Phoenix, Arizona; Scottsdale Stadium – Scottsdale, Arizona; The Ballpark at Disney’s Wide World of Sports – Orlando, Florida).  Round 2, featuring the eight qualifying teams from Round 1 in two pools of four teams will be played in San Juan (Hiram Bithorn Stadium) and Anaheim, California (Angel Stadium).

 THE WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC

            The World Baseball Classic, a 16-team tournament sanctioned by the International BAseball Federation (IBAF), will feature many of the best players in the world competing for their home countries and territories for the first time ever.  The tournament, which will run from March 3-20, will feature a bracket-style format with the 16 teams competing in four groups: Pool A – China, Chinese Taipei, Japan and Korea; Pool B – Canada, Mexico, South Africa and United States; Pool C – Cuba, Netherlands, Panama and Puerto Rico; Pool D – Australia, Dominican Republic, Italy and Venezuela.

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Contact:    

Richard Levin or Patrick Courtney, Major League Baseball, (212) 931-7878

Greg Bouris, Major League Baseball Players Association, (212) 826-0808

Dave Fanucchi

Director, Communications

USA BASEBALL

www.usabaseball.com

World Baseball Classic - Coming March 2006
www.worldbaseballclassic.com