SWIZTERLAND — The Mayor of Rome Gianni Alemanno announced during the inaugural International Baseball Federation (IBAF) Executive meeting of newly elected President Riccardo Fraccari that the city of Rome will donate a parcel of land slated for the construction of a new baseball stadium in Rome.

“I was enthusiastic when I had the chance to cooperate with IBAF during the World Cup” said Alemanno “And I am enthusiastic now, since I can announce that the Government of this City has officially committed to the building of this new facility. Rome doesn’t have a baseball stadium that can host international events and as a Mayor, I felt I had to fill this deficiency”.

The stadium will be built in Tor Vergata: “It’s not downtown Rome” said Alemanno “But it’s an area where huge development is in progress. The second University of Rome is based there and the new sports arena projected by Architect Calatrava will be soon completed”.

Rome and IBAF share the same Olympic dream: “As you know” said Gianni Alemanno “Rome runs to host the 2020 Games”.

IBAF President Riccardo Fraccari answered that he will be “Supporter number one” of the project. Fraccari introduced to the Mayor his Executive (“really representing the whole world”) and Major League Baseball representative Dan Bonanno.

“I think” Fraccari stated, “That there can be an important cooperation between the city of Rome, IBAF and MLB. I expect the synergy effect to be really strong”.

Before leaving, Mayor Alemanno stressed that the new facility will be important for Rome to host major events, but also to help the development of the game in the Eternal City: “I am positive baseball has a great potential in Rome”.

The Executive Committee also announced the Former director of Olympic Teams of the Italian Olympic Committee, Roberto Fabbricini as the new Executive Director of the International Baseball Federation (IBAF).

Fabbricini, formerly the Secretary General for FIDAL (the Italian Federation for Track and Field sports) was named in the position before the 1972 Munich Olympics and maintained it until the 2008 Beijing Games.

ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL BASEBALL FEDERATION (IBAF)
Founded in 1938, the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) is a non-governmental organization recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as administering men’s and women’s baseball at the world level. Located in Lausanne, Switzerland – the Olympic Capital – and counting 125 National Member Federations, the IBAF organizes the IBAF Men’s and Women’s Baseball World Cup, the AAA (18U) and AA (16U) World Championships, the Olympic Games Baseball Tournament, and it sanctions the World Baseball Classic, among other international baseball tournaments. The IBAF works to develop and grow the game of baseball around the world. For more information, please visit IBAF.org.

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Tags: IBAF