One month from today, the XVIII WBSC Men's Softball World Cup will open in Hermosillo, Mexico with the first three games of Group A at Fernando Ortiz Stadium and Mundialistas Hermosillenses Stadium. The four venues of the Group Stage will host the softball world again, after being used for previous softball world cups, marking a milestone in stadium usage and legacy projects for international softball.
Group A will be staged in Hermosillo, Mexico, at Mundialistas Hermosillenses Stadium and Fernando Ortiz Stadium. Both venues belong to Sonora’s Government and were renovated ahead of the U-18 Men's Softball World Cup in 2023.
For this year's event, the Mundialistas Hermosillenses will receive more works to further improve the lightning system, the field of play and the surrounding venues, further boosting the development of softball in the city and the state and leaving a legacy for the Hermosillo and Sonora softball community.
Group B in Prince Albert, Canada, will be played at Max Power Ball Parks at Prime Ministers Park, which previously hosted the U-19 Men's Softball World Cup 2018. A year before that tournament, the city of Prince Albert successfully raised $1.5 million CAD to upgrade the Prime Ministers Park facility, building a new diamond and expanding a second one, providing them with four regulation size fields, specifically for the male youth softball flagship event. Six years later, the field will stage the Men's Softball World Cup Group B in 2024, and the Finals in 2025.
Nine months after the conclusion of the WBSC Junior Men’s Softball World Championship 2018, the event received the Tourism Saskatchewan Marquee Event of the Year award in Canada, recognizing the economic and tourism impact in the community, and the sporting legacy in Prince Albert.
The third group of the Men's Softball World Cup will take place at the iconic Devon Park in Oklahoma City, USA, home of the U-19 Women's Softball World Cup 2015. Devon Park, formerly known as the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex,attract more than 150,000 fans a year to the stadium, making it a year-round operation and destination for softball fans and athletes.
A similar story can be told in many countries and continents around the world. Colquhoun Park in Palmerston North, New Zealand is the home field of the Manawatu Softball Association. The venue was transformed to host the WBSC U-18 Men’s Softball World Cup 2020, leaving a long-lasting legacy after the tournament. Almost three years later, it hosted the then-top-six ranked men's national softball teams in the world for a tournament as a prelude to the XVII WBSC Men's Softball World Cup.
In Peru, the softball stadium at Villa Maria del Triunfo was built for the Lima 2019 Pan American Games, with both men's and women's tournaments being a hit. In 2021, the venue hosted the WBSC U-18 Women's Softball World Cup, the first softball global event after the pandemic, and it's expected to host again the Pan American Games in 2027, when the biggest sporting event in the Americas return to Peru.
Castions di Strada, Italy, has also invested a lot of money to renew the Campo Comunale da Softball which will host the WBSC Women's Softball World Cup Finals. The venue was the stage for Group C of the World Cup in 2023, and will leave a legacy for future generations in Friuli Venezia Giulia.
Arguably the biggest example in this regard is the Asia Pacific Stadium in Tainan, inaugurated in 2019 and becoming the largest youth sports facility of its kind. The complex was built at a cost of $130 million and will host the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup until 2027.
