WBSC awards broadcast rights in North America to CBC Sports and Flo Sports for Softball Americas Qualifier

SURREY, British Columbia, Canada — 23 August, 2019 — The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) today announced that CBC Sports and Flo Sports have been awarded exclusive broadcast rights in Canada and USA, respectively, for the WBSC Women’s Softball Americas Qualifier. The event opens on Sunday, 25 August, in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, with ten teams from the Americas battling for two spots in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

CBC Sports’ weekly broadcast staple Road to the Olympic Games will air the home team’s Super Round game on 31 August at 1 p.m. PT/ 4 p.m. ET (if Canada advances to the Super Round) on CBC and the free CBC Gem streaming device. In addition, CBC Sports will exclusively live stream 24 games of the tournament in the Canadian territory via cbcsports.ca and the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices.

In the United States, the streaming and on-demand sports programming platform FloSports will provide complete live-coverage of the Olympic Qualifier event, offering every game of the event to its subscribers.

WBSC Chairman Tommy Velazquez said: “Millions of people in the Americas and around the world will be able to watch all the games of the Softball Americas Qualifier, building anticipation of softball’s historic return at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.”

All games of the WBSC Women’s Softball Americas Qualifier will be live-streamed and free-to-view on the official WBSC OTT Platform at https://gametime.sport for those territories not covered by WBSC’s broadcast and live-stream partners.

WBSC Softball Americas will offer Spanish-language coverage of the 31 games through Facebook Live.

Ten teams will compete in the WBSC Softball Americas Qualifier, including host and world No. 3 Canada, No. 4 Puerto Rico, No. 5 Mexico, No. 14 Brazil, No. 16 Venezuela, No. 17 Cuba, No. 18 Guatemala, No. 19 Dominican Republic, No. 20 Peru and No. 39 Bahamas.
The official website of the WBSC Softball Americas Qualifier has been launched and is available in six languages — English, French, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and Traditional Chinese — at https://olympicsoftball.wbsc.org.

About CBC Sports

CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada’s Olympic Network through 2024 and Canada’s Paralympic Network through 2020. The national public broadcaster is committed to showcasing Canadian and international athletes and sports across all platforms under the CBC Sports and Hockey Night in Canada brands, including on television, online at cbcsports.ca and via the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices. CBC Sports prides itself on telling the story of the high-performance athlete’s journey every step of the way, ensuring Canadians always know the people who represent them before they see them atop the podium.