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Baseball World Cup Eyes the Southland

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Times Staff Writer

The Los Angeles Sports Council has held preliminary discussions with the Angels and Dodgers about bringing baseball’s World Cup to Southern California next year, council President David Simon said Wednesday.

Major league officials envision the event as an international showcase for the sport, and for a league that has refused to suspend its season so that players could participate in the Olympic Games. When owners and the players’ union agreed this week to abide by the strict international drug-testing protocol during the World Cup, officials crossed the most important item off their to-do list in trying to organize the event.

The inaugural World Cup is tentatively scheduled for the United States next March, a time that would require warm-weather venues and proximity to spring training sites in Arizona and Florida. Spring training would continue even as players leave their major league teams to play for national teams, so a preliminary round of games might be held in those states.

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Simon believes the entire event could be staged in Southern California, given the availability of Dodger Stadium, Angel Stadium and Petco Park in San Diego, as well as California League stadiums in Rancho Cucamonga, Lake Elsinore, San Bernardino and Lancaster.

At minimum, Simon said, the medal round of games could be held in Southern California.

“I can’t think of a more fitting place to have the first World Cup final,” Simon said. “We have a population base that would support teams from different continents. We would have large fan bases for lots of participating countries. I don’t think that could be matched in other areas with our climate.”

Dodger Stadium played host to the baseball competition during the 1984 Olympic Games, with every session involving Team USA selling out and every other session filling more than half the ballpark, including a Canada-Japan and Nicaragua-South Korea doubleheader that drew 48,656.

Major league spokesman Rich Levin called the question of sites “premature.” He said the drug-testing agreement was a “first step” and said major league executives would next meet with international baseball federations to determine what countries would participate and how to determine player eligibility.

Commissioner Bud Selig expressed excitement that the long-planned World Cup might finally be at hand.

“I think it’s going to be remarkable,” Selig said. “I’m really happy about this. This is the culmination of a lot of work and a lot of effort.”

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