Photo: FEDERICO PARRA / AFP / Getty Images
For the first time since 1991 and debuting in a Major League Stadium, the prestigious tournament “La Serie Del Caribe” will be hosted in South Florida. The success left behind by the World Baseball Classic during 2023 was an essential element for the yearly celebrated Caribbean Series to come to Miami.
Chema Sanchez, the Marlins Manager of Business Development was the propeller for executing the vision to bring this event home. “It’s a mix of feelings for me, it means a lot to place my efforts to help create this event. I feel very proud specially being Venezuelan. For the Marlins this makes great sense with the new shareholder group we have been trying to continue penetrating the latin market and events like these are crucial in helping us reach closer to the fanbase and make them feel that loanDepot Park is their home.” mentioned Chema Sanchez to the media.
Many Latin-American fans will fill the seats of loanDepot Park to root for their country; Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Curacao, Panama, and Nicaragua will be very well represented in Miami’s melting pot. The series is set to run from February 1st until February 9th hosting its semifinals on February 8th and closing out with the championship game on February 9th.
The Miami Marlins have certainly helped push this event and the efforts have been on notice since it was first announced in 2022. The team has hosted different marketing activations to help spread the word and has motivated its fanbase to attend this upcoming week’s festivities.
Miami Marlins President of Business Operations, Caroline O'Connor, spoke earlier this week with Andrew Colton on WIOD’s South Florida First News and reflected on the event, “A lot of people are coming out to root on their country pride, I think a lot of people have great memories of the World Baseball Classic from last year and they want to come out and experience that same passion and energy that we had in the ballpark then.”
Feeding off the 2023 success while making it to the playoffs via Wild Card the team is looking to also engage new fans that will be introduced via the Caribbean Series.
Placing a competitive winning team on the field and engaging fans with innovative entertainment such as the one we are about to experience this upcoming week, fit to be a perfect combination for successfully attracting fans to the loanDepot Park stands as the Marlins gear up to take on the 2024 season.