Western Canada's baseball league announces rebrand, all-star game in Edmonton
Western Major Baseball League will be known as Western Canadian Baseball League starting in 2019
Major league baseball is getting a rebrand in Western Canada, with the goal of expanding the league.
The Western Major Baseball League, which includes the Edmonton Prospects, will be known as the Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) starting in 2019.
The league also announced Saturday morning an all-star game will be held in Edmonton on July 8, 2019 and again in 2020.
The rebranding and all-star games are an effort to attract players to the league and bring more recognition to Canadian baseball, the WMBL said in a media release.
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"We know that our fans and baseball community will join with many new fans to make this a must-attend event in Alberta's capital," Prospects owner Pat Cassidy said in the release.
The WMBL was first established in the 1930s and the league is composed entirely of college and university-level players from Canada, the U.S. and other countries.
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Alberta and Saskatchewan each have six teams playing in the newly rebranded WCBL. Attendance across games reached 225,000 in 2017. The Edmonton Prospects hold the record for attendance at a single game, with around 8,000 spectators on Canada Day in 2017.
Greater interest in the league led to the most recent development of an expansion franchise in Fort McMurray, the league said.