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Perfect Game Renews Agreement with City of Hoover, Alabama on Multiyear Use of Hoover Met Complex
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (Tuesday, April 04, 2023) – Perfect Game, the world’s largest amateur baseball and softball platform and scouting service, today announced it has agreed to a three-year extension of its multiyear agreement with the City of Hoover, Alabama to use the Hoover Met Complex as a hub for tournaments and other baseball and softball activities in the Greater Birmingham area. The Hoover Met Complex is managed and operated by Sports Facilities Companies, on behalf of the City.
Since 2019, Perfect Game has used the Hoover Met Complex to host a number of its marquee events, including its 2020 National Showcase, which features some of the best high school baseball players in the country – many of whom are destined for the Major Leagues and top collegiate programs. Additionally, over that same time frame, the Hoover Met Complex has annually played host to the Perfect Game High School Showdown, 14U World Wood Bat Association tournament and Perfect Game’s 13U-18U National Elite Championships.
Perfect Game’s impact on Hoover and surrounding communities extends to local businesses, beyond hotels and restaurants, with more than 1,300 total youth baseball teams booking more than 35,000 hotel nights in the area during 2022. In 2023, Perfect Game events will occupy 81 days of the Hoover Met Complex calendar.
“Perfect Game is happy to extend its working agreement with the city of Hoover, making the Hoover Met Complex a major hub for many of our most prestigious regional events and activities,” said Perfect Game CEO, Rob Ponger. “Since 2019, we have enjoyed a tremendous and mutually beneficial relationship with the city and the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau. We thank the local business community and area residents for making Perfect Game and its Hoover event participants feel at home. Perfect Game looks forward to working with all of our Hoover partners in creating more memorable moments for our players and their families.”
“Perfect Game has been a great partner with the City of Hoover for several years. They bring top-level competition. And with that competition, they bring wonderful families to enjoy our restaurants, hotels and shopping venues. We are happy to continue to host Perfect Game in the City of Hoover,” stated Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato.
“We are so excited to again work with Perfect Game and our local partners for a new three-year agreement,” said Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau Sports Development Director, Tonia Whatley. “Perfect Game holds tournaments throughout Hoover and the Greater Birmingham area bringing more than 1,300 teams, national and international players and thousands of overnight visitors to our area, stimulating our economy and quality of life. Youth sports is always a huge draw in Alabama and the opportunity to host more than 34 Perfect Game baseball tournaments annually, reinforces the fact that the Greater Birmingham-Hoover area is a top sports destination.”
“From the highest profile Perfect Game events throughout the year to the SEC Baseball Tournament in May, the Hoover Met Complex has become the premiere destination for the best players in amateur baseball,” added Sports Facilities Companies’ CEO, Jason Clement. “This agreement continues the marriage of PG’s world-class events and fervent fan following with Hoover’s first-class hospitality and best-in-class operations.”
For more information, please visit the Perfect Game website.
Perfect Game is the world’s largest elite youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, producing over 9,800+ events, hundreds of thousands of games, and showcases each year across the country. Perfect Game is dedicated to giving amateur players exposure to take their game to the next level, whether that be in college or in the professional ranks. At Perfect Game events, players are performing with top-level competition in front of college recruiters and professional scouts from all over the country. Because of this, these events prove to be invaluable to college coaches as well as Major League Baseball, as they can scout a large population of talented ballplayers in one location. To date, more than 1,847 players that have played in a Perfect Game event have also played in Major League Baseball. Since 2003, 13,893 Perfect Game alumni have been selected in the MLB First-Year Amateur Player Draft. In the 2022 Draft, for example, more than 90 percent of all players selected had played in Perfect Game events, and every player selected on the Draft’s first day had previously attended Perfect Game events.