CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Perfect Game first held its World Wood Bat Association (WWBA) championship tournaments at the East Cobb Baseball Complex in Marietta, Ga., at the beginning of this century, setting in motion a relationship between PG and the ECB Complex that has continued to grow and prosper.
With the calendar now flipped to the year 2020, that relationship has reached an exciting new level of cooperation that will ensure PG’s presence in the Greater Atlanta area for decades to come.
Perfect Game and the East Cobb Baseball organization that owns and operates the iconic ECB Complex are pleased to announce they have entered a long-term agreement that insures PG will control all tournament play at the complex beginning with the 2020 season.
By securing the East Cobb Baseball Complex as a PG tournament-only facility, Perfect Game will have a presence in the Atlanta market that is second-to-none.
“Perfect Game has long been a part of the fabric of Cobb County,” Rachel Rogers, Cobb Travel & Tourism Director of Sports Sales & Engagement, commented via email. “We are thrilled to continue that partnership as they cement their long-term commitment to this community and Metro Atlanta.
“Our partners are eager to continue rallying around the visitors who call Cobb home during Perfect Game’s tournaments and showcases.”
An important aspect of the agreement also outlines several major capital improvements that will be made to the facility, including the installation of artificial turf on all eight regulation fields, which is already underway and is expected to be done by early May. Other improvement projects will be completed in the next few years.
The ECB Complex will serve as a tournament hub while PG continues to enjoy outstanding long-term relationships with select facilities in the area, including 643 DP Athletics’ Aviation Sports Academy in Marietta, Brook Run Park Complex in Dunwoody, Milton Pro Player Park in Alpharetta and the Home Plate Field Complex in Peachtree. Several other top-notch facilities and premier high school fields will also be utilized.
“We will have a full slate of tournament play from February through October at these facilities for years to come,” PG President Jerry Ford said. “These will be of the same brand and of the same quality that teams have come to expect when they participate in a PG tournament.”
IN RELATED FACILITY NEWS, Perfect Game is also pleased to announce that it has entered into a long-term agreement with the Hoover Met Complex in the Birmingham, Ala., suburb of Hoover, which stipulates that PG will host nearly 95 percent of all the baseball events held at the facility.
The Hoover Met Complex is home to the 10,800-seat Hoover Met Stadium, which annually hosts the SEC Tournament Championship. It also features a back quad with four all-turf regulation fields and an adjacent natural grass regulation field, along with easy access to two beautifully maintained fields at nearby Hoover High School.
“We are extremely excited to have Perfect Game here, and not only with their product and their brand because it’s the elite of the elite,” Hoover Met Complex General Manager John Sparks said. “It’s the way they do business all the way down from Jerry Ford down to the guys on the field.
“I’ve been in this business for 23 years and you like to work with some people and you don’t like to work with some people and we really, really enjoy working with (PG).”
Perfect Game first reached an agreement with the Hoover Met to begin hosting events just last year and sent several of its premier events to Alabama, including the PG High School Showdown, the PG WWBA 17u Elite Championship, the PG WWBA 14u National Championship and the PG Junior National Showcase.
PG will bring those events back to Hoover in 2020 as centerpieces for a full slate of tournaments and showcases, including the inaugural PG WWBA 14u and 16u Elite Championships. Tonia Whatley, the National Sports Development Manager for the Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau, believes the entire region will benefit from this long-term commitment.
“Having a relationship with Perfect Game baseball (events) … provides us with an increased economic impact stimulus and is a welcomed addition to our already notable sports portfolio,” Whatley wrote in an email. “We are excited to have a valued partnership with Perfect Game and to have the opportunity to showcase our first-class sports venues, hotels, restaurants and attractions.”
While these facility agreements guarantee that Perfect Game will continue to be a major contributor to the growth of amateur baseball in the Southeast, the world’s preeminent scouting, recruiting and event service is also looking forward to continued growth in other regions of the country.
Foremost on that to-do list is the much anticipated opening the new Perfect Game National Headquarters Complex in Hutto, Texas.
The $800 million mixed-use facility, on schedule to open its doors by Memorial Day 2021, will eventually be home to 24 all-turf, regulation baseball fields, 10 of which the city will develop for public use. In addition to being Perfect Game’s new National Headquarters, it will also house the first Perfect Game Hall of Fame.
PG will also continue to develop its healthy long-term relationships with several venues scattered across the state of Florida hosting PG National Championship tournaments and high-profile PG national showcases. PG’s strong relationship with many of the MLB spring training facilities in the Greater Phoenix Metro area ensures national championship events will continue to be held near the West Coast.