Montgomery to welcome Black College World Series to town

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) – Hundreds of people are expected to be in Montgomery this week as preparation gets underway at Riverwalk stadium for the Tyson Foods Black College World Series.

“Montgomery has a huge historical value for people of color, particularly African Americans, said Aquan Robinson, Director of Convention Sales for the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce, ”and so to be able to connect their heritage to wear the heritage of HBCU athletics, and particularly baseball is very important.”

The series, in its second year, will feature eight HBCU baseball teams from six states across the Southeast.

NCAA Division II and NAIA Baseball Programs in Black College World Series:

  • Albany State (GA)
  • Edward Waters (FL)
  • Bluefield State (WV)
  • Florida Memorial (FL)
  • Kentucky State (KY)
  • Rust (Miss)
  • Miles (AL)
  • Talladega (AL)

Teams will hit the diamond from May 11-15.

Robinson says it’s been a community effort.

“They’ve got an actual local committee here that has been supporting the overall organization,” Robinson explained. “You even have some local people that are hosting teams to kind of show them around while they’re in town, also.”

Games will be livestreamed on the Black College Sports Network (BCSN) at mybcsn.net, the BCSN YouTube channel (@mybcsn1), Facebook page (@mybcsn1), and Twitter page (@mybcsn1). Information and tickets can be found at homerunmontgomery.org.

With hundreds of players, coaches and fans coming to the Capital City, leaders believe this could be a home run for local businesses.

“They’re gonna be staying at our local hotels. They’re going to be eating, dining and shopping,” Robinson added. “So we’re really looking forward to generating some room nights that are going towards this.”

In order to attract more events like this, Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed said during a council meeting last week that it is important for residents to show up in large numbers.

“One of the key things that we hear when we go after events is, you know, what Montgomery support will the community come out? And so they don’t bring these events here just to have a lot of empty seats,” Reed noted. “We need people to come out and support these events as much as possible.”

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