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Press release World Baseball Classic, Inc.
The 2017 World Baseball Classic has drawn 976,828 setting the all-time event attendance record through the Second Round. This year’s tournament has already surpassed the previous total tournament attendance record of 885,212, set in 2013. With three games still to be played in the Championship Round, total attendance for the tournament will surpass 1 million for the first time.
The 2017 World Baseball Classic attendance is +24% over the 2013 tournament mark (788,299) through the Second Round. The 2017 Second Round drew 354,977 making it the most-attended Second Round in the tournament’s history breaking the 2013 mark of 325,282.
The Tokyo Pool in the Second Round drew a total of 209,072 breaking the record for the most-attended pool in tournament history. Previously, Tokyo set the record for most-attended pool in the First Round of this year’s tournament with a total of 206,534.
Saturday night’s USA vs. Dominican Republic match-up in San Diego drew a sold out crowd of 43,002 to Petco Park marking the largest attendance for a World Baseball Classic Second Round game held in the United States. The game also was the eighth contest in the 2017 World Baseball Classic to draw more than 40,000 fans eclipsing the 2009 tournament which had seven games of more than 40,000.
The Championship Round of the 2017 World Baseball Classic starts tonight at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles with The Kingdom of the Netherlands playing Puerto Rico. Tomorrow night Japan will face off against the United States. The winners will square off in the World Baseball Classic Championship Game on Wednesday, March 22 with all three games starting at 9 p.m. Eastern/6 p.m. Pacific.
In the United States, tournament games will air live exclusively in English on MLB Network and on an authenticated basis via MLBNetwork.com/watch; while ESPN Deportes and WatchESPN will provide the exclusive Spanish language coverage. The tournament is being distributed via media platforms in 182 countries and territories worldwide with a global reach of more than 415 million households.
Tickets for the remaining games are available at www.WorldBaseballClassic.com.