Guadalajara, Tepic chosen host cities for Premier12 Group A in Mexico
The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) announced today the host cities and venues for Group A of the Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS. The Pan American Stadium in Guadalajara, Jalisco and the brand new Santa Teresita Stadium in Tepic, Nayarit, will host the 15 games of Group A from 10 to 14 November.
The Charros de Jalisco Pan American Stadium, located in Zapopan, outside Guadalajara, has a 16,500-seat capacity and was built for the 2011 Pan Am Games track and field competitions. The Charros de Jalisco, a club competing in the Winter Mexican Pacific League (Liga Mexicana del Pacifico, LMP), bought the stadium in 2014. In addition to Group A of the last edition of the Premier12 in 2019, the stadium also hosted Group D of the World Baseball Classic 2017 opening round.
Just 200km from Guadalajara, the brand new Santa Teresita Stadium in Tepic will be inaugurated for the Premier12 2024. The stadium, in the final stages of construction, will seat 8,000 fans in the capital of Nayarit State. It broke ground on 1 April 2023 and is expected to be delivered in the coming months.
"The WBSC is pleased to announce Mexico as a host for the WBSC Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS, joining Japan and Taiwan," said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari. "With top-tier facilities in Guadalajara and Tepic confirmed as host venues, we're ready to stage the most important and biggest international baseball tournament of the year in November."
"As a country, it's a source of pride to host the WBSC Premier12 for the second consecutive time in Mexico," said Ana Gabriela Guevara, National Sports Commission Director. "This year's Premier12 will add to the effort and support that we have made as a country for sport, obtaining historic achievements such as second place in the WBSC/KONAMI world ranking. At the same time, the inauguration of the new stadium in Tepic will bring high-level baseball back to Nayarit, leaving a long-lasting legacy for the community."
Asia will host Group B. The group will open on 13 November with three games at the Nagoya Dome, Japan, and the Tianmu Stadium and the new Taipei Dome in Taipei City. The Taipei Dome and Tianmu Stadium will host the remaining 12 games through 18 November.
The Tokyo Dome in Japan will host the Super Round, a four-team round-robin, from 21 to 23 November.
The medal games will take place on 24 November at the Tokyo Dome.
The top 12 teams at the WBSC/KONAMI Men's Baseball World Ranking on 31 December 2023 qualified for the third edition of the Premier12, the biggest international baseball event of this year: No. 1 Japan, No. 2 Mexico, No. 3 USA, No. 4 Korea, No. 5 Chinese Taipei, No. 6 Venezuela, No. 7 Netherlands, No. 8 Cuba, No. 9 Dominican Republic, No. 10 Panama, No. 11 Australia and No. 12 Puerto Rico.
The 12 participants will split into two groups, after which, after round-robin play, the top two finishers of each group will compete in the Super Round.
The first and second-place teams of the Super Round will compete in the Premier12 Championship game, while the third and fourth-place finishers will play for the bronze medal.
The groups and schedule of the WBSC Flagship event will be announced later.