World Baseball Classic coming to Chase Field in downtown Phoenix

PHOENIX - This is big news for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and maybe even bigger news for Arizona.

Chase Field in downtown Phoenix has been selected as the official host for the next World Baseball Classic.

"Arizona is synonymous with baseball in the spring, so it really couldn’t be a better time for us to host the World Baseball Classic," says Josh Coddington with the Arizona Office of Tourism.

The international baseball tournament will bring together teams from different countries.

Coddington says this is good for everyone in Arizona.

"The great thing is that it uses Chase Field at a time when it normally would not be used anyway. So it brings some activity to that environment," he said.

The Arizona Diamondbacks and Chase Field hosted a portion of the international event in 2006 and 2013 as well. The economic impact, the tourism office says, will be felt across multiple industries, including hospitality, transportation, food and beverage and many more.

"In 2013, there was an economic impact of about $30 million for this event, which is huge for Phoenix and huge for the state and huge for downtown," Coddington says.

The tourism office is hoping this will reignite the tourism flame after a nationwide lull in travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"People have been cooped up and had missed vacations and now that they can travel more freely than they have before, people are really getting out and going to places, which makes it all the more important that we keep Arizona in front of people," Coddington said.

Tickets are going on sale at a later date.

The Diamondbacks President said he's excited to host the event and welcomes fans from all over.