On Monday the organizers of the 2010 European Baseball Championship sent out a press release to announce that the hosting ballparks in Stuttgart and Heidenheim will get extra seating for the tournament in July.
The same company (Nüssli), which built the temporary grandstands in Regensburg during the Baseball World Cup (picture: Armin Wolf Arena filled with 10,000 people during USA-GER), is going to extend the capacity in Stuttgart to 5,000 and in Heidenheim to 3,000.
Both ballparks are going to host a combined 38 of the 43 games at the European Championship. Additionally five preliminary round games will be played in Neuenburg. The ticket sale for the event, which will be held between July 23rd and August 1st started at www.ticketmaster.de in December.
Defending champion Netherlands is slotted into Group A together with host Germany, the Czech Republic, Belgium, France and the Ukraine. Italy, Spain, Great Britain, Sweden, Croatia and Greece will play in Group B. The three best teams in each pool will qualify for the final round.
Schedule European Championship
Photo: © Walter Keller, www.catchthefever.de