Courtesy of Unrivaled Sports
Add another major youth sports event to the docket for America’s 250th birthday.
Unrivaled Sports is launching the Ripken Nationals next year. The 12U baseball national championship tournament will start June 30 and the championship round will conclude on July 4, 2026 at Cooperstown All-Star Village.
It is the first true national title event in Ripken Baseball’s 20-plus history — and, many will speculate, the potential first step toward an Unrivaled bid to challenge the Little League World Series as youth baseball’s marquee event.
16-team field; teams will compete at no charge
Unrivaled complexes will host qualifier events starting in March
CBS Sports Network will broadcast championship games and select qualifying events
GameChanger — owned by Unrivaled investor Dick’s Sporting Goods — will stream select games
GameChanger will also power scores, stats and highlights
The announcement comes after the Unrivaled Baseball Network partnership with USSSA was recently unveiled.
The White House previously announced its intention to hold a national high school sports competition — the Patriot Games — on the same day, but details were scarce.
Key to note here: This event is new and is not connected to the Cal Ripken events played under Babe Ruth League’s umbrella; that is a separate non-Unrivaled partnership for the Hall of Famer.
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