By Communications Division
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa.
December 9, 2008

The Little League International Board of Directors unanimously resolved today to select Warner Robins, Ga., as the site of the new Southeast Region Headquarters, it was announced by Stephen D. Keener, President and Chief Executive Officer of Little League International.

“On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to thank Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, Mayor Donald S. Walker, and the leaders and citizens of Warner Robins, for their part in helping to bring the new home for the eight-state Little League Southeast Region to Central Georgia,” Mr. Keener said. “We trust our relationship will continue to grow, and that the people of the Warner Robins area will enjoy having this important center of Little League activity in their community. And we know that our volunteers in the Southeast Region will find that the new site will be convenient because of its more central location, and the facilities will be first-rate.”

The original field of 18 cities in six states was narrowed to Morganton, N.C., and Warner Robins in November. Both cities were represented by teams in the Little League Baseball World Series in recent years.

“We are grateful as well to Morganton, and in particular, Mayor Mel Cohen,” Mr. Keener said. “This was an extremely difficult decision, which was undertaken with a great deal of deliberation. Our Board of Directors was very impressed by both of the proposals.”

Little League teams from Georgia won the Little League Baseball World Series in 2006 and again in 2007. The 2007 winner was Warner Robins American Little League.

“With back-to-back world champions and a strong passion for Little League, I cannot imagine a better place than Georgia for the Southeast Region Headquarters,” Gov. Perdue said. “Little League is a great program that I was proud to be a part of during my youth, and we will be honored to host the regional playoffs each year as the Southeast representative to the Little League World Series is determined. Little League is a world-class organization and I am proud to welcome them to Georgia.”

The next phase in the process will be to reach a contractual agreement with Warner Robins. Upon completion of that agreement, operations at the current Southeast Region Headquarters in Gulfport, Fla., a suburb of St. Petersburg, will begin transferring to Warner Robins.
 
The Southeast Region Headquarters serves as the administrative center for Little League Baseball and Softball activities in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The annual Southeast Region Championship game (formerly the Southern Region Championship game) has been televised nationally on ESPN or ESPN2 every year since 1997.
 
As the site for the new Regional Headquarters is developed in Warner Robins, it will be necessary to play the 2009 Little League Baseball and Softball Regional Tournaments at an alternate location. That location, Ceredo-Kenova, W.Va., to be used only for one year, was announced on Monday.

Little League Baseball and Softball is the world’s largest organized youth sports program, with more than 2.6 million players and 1 million volunteers in every U.S. state and 75 other countries.