AIMS President Stephan fox, sends congratulations on behalf of the AIMS family to the WBSC family and President Riccardo Fraccari which is also a GAISF council member.
Federation Focus: Bach Praises WBSC’s New Headquarters
07/08/20
(ATR) The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) moves into its new home near Lausanne.
WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari welcomed 30 invited guests including IOC President Thomas Bach and ASOIF President Francesco Ricci Bitti to Monday’s official opening of the permanent WBSC global headquarters. Travel restrictions and Swiss regulations due to the Covid-19 pandemic limited the size of the ceremony.
Bach says he is “really impressed” with the headquarters “because of its elegance, its style, its functionality and also its commitment to the environmental protection and the sustainable building”.
The building, located in the Lausanne suburb of Pully, has been named “Home Plate” and is owned and operated by the WBSC.
The WBSC was previously renting office space in the Maison du Sport International in Lausanne.
Ricci Bitti applauded the WBSC for keeping its headquarters near the IOC.
“This illustrates the strong Olympic relationship which baseball and softball has, and this is very important for a sport which does not have its roots in Europe. The fact baseball and softball is so close to the IOC provides a very strong message of unity,” said the ASOIF president.
Fraccari took the opportunity to make the case for baseball and softball to be featured permanently at the Olympics.
“Today, we are a unified, global sport with a worldwide fan and player base and a powerful commercial engine driving our continued growth. We count 211 national federations and millions of players – male and female – covering baseball and softball and international competitions for all age categories starting at U-12,” he said.
The inauguration of the headquarters was preceded by a tree planting ceremony in memory of the former President of the International Softball Federation and WBSC co-founder Don Porter, who died last month.