Little League World Series

Little League International conducted a thorough assessment of the impact the devastating COVID-19 pandemic has had on 6,500 community-based Little League programs in 84 countries. After exhausting all possible options, Little League International, on behalf of its Board of Directors, has made the disappointing and difficult decision to cancel its seven World Series tournaments and their respective regional qualifying tournaments. This decision was made based on the significant public health uncertainty that will still exist several months from now, in accordance with direction from Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine, as well as senior public health officials and government leaders from locations where our other six World Series are held, as well as the their qualifying regional tournaments.

As we assessed the feasibility of including these tournament opportunities as part of our resumption of play plans, a number of factors went into the decision to cancel the World Series and Regional Tournaments, including:

• The inability to play qualifying tournaments in many of our U.S. and International regions, coupled with direction from federal officials regarding the complexity of international travel restrictions and immigration requirements.
• An indication from teams from around the world that they will be unable to participate or travel to these tournaments.
• The testing and mitigation protocols that would need to be in place should an individual participating or attending an event be diagnosed with COVID-19.

While most visible in July and August during the Little League World Series Tournaments, the Little League International Tournament, as a whole, is reliant on a number of logistics around the world that often start in early June, in order to provide the best possible experience to all the leagues who enter each year. In addition to this direct guidance, Little League volunteer officials at a variety of local league, district, state, and country level, including a number of teams that have direct entry to the Little League World Series, have indicated to Little League International that they would not, or likely not, be able to participate in an International Tournament if it were to be held this year due to the pandemic and travel restrictions in their area. Unfortunately, based on the direct guidance from federal, state, and local health and government officials, in addition to these logistics and other variables that require decisions well in advance of the tournament, Little League International, on behalf of its Board of Directors, decided it was in the best interest of the entire organization to cancel the Regional and World Series events for the 2020 season.

The safety and the well-being of all our participants at our Little League World Series events, including our volunteers and staff, is of the utmost importance, and was considered as one of the many factors in the decision making process. Little League International understands the difficulties and challenges that many of its volunteers and staff are facing, both personally and economically, during this pandemic, and hopes that all of its members will be able to get through these difficult times together.