Owner of Dominican Republic nightclub whose roof collapsed is arrested along with his sister
Crews worked for 53 hours nonstop after arriving on the scene in Santo Domingo shortly after midnight on April 8, rescuing 189 survivors.
The victims included beloved singer Rubby Pérez, who was performing when the roof caved in, and Nelsy Cruz, the governor of Montecristi province and sister of seven-time Major League Baseball All-Star Nelson Cruz.
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Wall Street Journal
2 days ago
- Wall Street Journal
Baseball is About to Break Its Regular-Season Attendance Record—by Playing a Game at a Nascar Track
It was the summer of 2021, and the telephone lines and email inboxes at Major League Baseball's headquarters were buzzing. The Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees had just played a thriller on a diamond built into an Iowa cornfield straight out of the movie 'Field of Dreams.' The event was an immediate smash, drawing the most viewers for any regular-season contest since 2005 and injecting a surge of adrenaline into an otherwise sleepy time of the year.
NBC News
2 days ago
- NBC News
For one day only, MLB is turning a NASCAR track into a record-breaking stadium
More fans than have ever watched a Major League Baseball game are set to show up Saturday to a field that didn't exist 32 days ago, in a state that has never previously hosted an MLB game. The baseball itself will be the only thing familiar about Saturday's matchup at Tennessee's Bristol Motor Speedway between the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds — and that is on purpose. MLB has staged games in unconventional places for the past decade. Yet while a 2016 game at North Carolina's Fort Bragg, games in 2021 and 2022 at the same Iowa cornfield made famous by the movie 'Field of Dreams' and last year's Negro Leagues tribute at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, were held in intimate settings, MLB's visit to a venue better known for motorsports was designed as a spectacle of sheer size. More than 85,000 tickets have been sold for a matchup dubbed the 'Speedway Classic,' a number that will break the league's attendance record of 84,587 set in 1954 when the New York Yankees visited Cleveland. 'This one really ranks up there big just because of the enormity of what we're building,' Murray Cook, the president of Brightview Sports, who consults MLB on fields and ballparks, told "TODAY." That construction project began June 4, when the speedway started demolishing parts of its infield, including half of a building, in order to situate a baseball field between the half-mile track's third and fourth turns. Once that phase ended, it left a window of about 32 days to build the field and everything surrounding it. More than 18,000 tons of gravel were brought in to create a level playing field, topped by a shock-absorbing pad that rests underneath the 124,000 square feet of artificial turf playing surface. The turf was infilled with sand to provide a better bounce for a batted ball. More than 300 tons of clay were required to build the basepaths and mounds. Bristol Motor Speedway's existing lighting did not meet MLB standards for broadcasts, which required the temporary installation of 415 extra lighting fixtures, as well. 'Batting tunnels, dugouts, backstop net, batter's eye, bullpens, foul poles; none of this is here, right?' Cook said. 'So all that has to be brought in.' Saturday's game will mark the first MLB game in Tennessee for the same reason last season's game in Birmingham was its first in Alabama, and why MLB has staged other games in recent years in Korea and Olympic Stadium in London. Planting live games in markets that otherwise would not have big-league baseball is 'a huge pillar in terms of our growth strategy,' MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in April when visiting Nashville. 'It's the commissioner's office plan to grow the game around the world and to take it to places where, you know, you don't have a major league team,' Cook said. When MLB visited London for series in 2023 and 2024, where a field was placed atop the home pitch of West Ham of the Premier League, attendance topped out just shy of 60,000. Bristol provided a much bigger logistical challenge. Bristol Motor Speedway is the country's second-largest venue in the U.S. as judged by permanent seating, said Jerry Caldwell, the Bristol Motor Speedway president, and the venue has used that capacity before to host record-smashing attendance figures. A 2016 college football game between Tennessee and Virginia Tech set the NCAA's single-game record. MLB's challenge involved creating a baseball venue within a NASCAR facility that is approximately twice the size of a football field. The construction involved limitations. Though a four-sided videoboard called the 'Colossus' hangs 180 feet over the speedway's infield, strung up via cables that stretch to the stadium's corners, the ballpark design sought to keep it out of play as much as possible. During the game, it will be in foul territory, and netting was installed to keep foul balls from damaging the screen. 'I love seeing this baseball field rise up out of the middle of the racetrack and kind of be born, almost,' Caldwell said. Caldwell said he hopes the memories of the game endure. But the venue's transformation will be brief. Cook expects the tear-down following the game to last about 15 days. Once removed, the entire field will be donated to Eastern Tennessee State University. 'We want it to be something that they'll always remember, they'll talk about, have fond memories of creating wonderful memories with their family, and I know that's what will happen,' Caldwell said. 'And then we'll remove all this, and six weeks later, we'll do the same thing for the playoffs in NASCAR.'
CNBC
3 days ago
- CNBC
MLB is tapping into NASCAR to help grow baseball
Major League Baseball is taking America's pastime to an iconic NASCAR track, and the game is set to top league attendance records. On Saturday, MLB will play its first-ever game in Tennessee as part of the MLB Speedway Classic, where the Atlanta Braves will face off against the Cincinnati Reds at Bristol Motor Speedway. It will mark the first time a professional baseball game has ever been played at a professional race car track, and MLB will incorporate NASCAR-themed elements throughout the event. The event is MLB's latest effort to help grow the game and attract a younger, more diverse fan base. "It represents an opportunity for us to really focus in on having as many fans as possible at an event and to create a natural tie-in with another sport that is very much geared towards the same things that we've been driving towards the last few years — around speed, and being fast and bold," Jeremiah Yolkut, MLB's senior vice president of global events, told CNBC. Bristol Motor Speedway said the game is set to break the MLB's all-time regular season single-game attendance record with more than 85,000 tickets sold. The previous record of 84,587 was set in 1954. The MLB said the venue can hold about 90,000 fans in total. MLB said younger fans like the opportunity to see the game in unique settings. Previously, the league has seen success with its Field of Dreams games in Iowa. Yolkut said the league also thinks there's crossover between NASCAR and baseball fan bases. Saturday's game is four years in the making, with the first conversation dating back to 2021, Yolkut added. Since then, MLB has conducted feasibility studies; partnered with architects, a professional turf company, their broadcaster Fox and the concessions provider Levy; and signed multiple sponsors, including title sponsor "There was even a building that had to be knocked down in order for us to actually put the baseball field on the track," Yolkut said. Beyond the main event, MLB is also planning a full fan experience, including a fan zone and musical performances from Tim McGraw, Pitbull and Jake Owen. "Fans at home are also going to get some incredible visuals with the aerial shots of the stadium and the guys hitting home runs landing on a NASCAR track," Yolkut said. "It's going to be pretty special."
