NEW YORK (AP) — The Tampa Bay Rays' exhibition game against Cuba's national team in Havana on March 22 has been finalized, Major League Baseball's first trip to the communist island nation since the Baltimore Orioles played there in 1999.
MLB and the players' association announced the game Tuesday. It will be televised by ESPN and ESPN Deportes.
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says "during a time of historic change, we appreciate the constructive role afforded by our shared passion for the game, and we look forward to experiencing Cuba's storied baseball tradition and the passion of its many loyal fans."
Workers use cranes to paint the Estadio Latinoamericano baseball arena in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, March 1, 2016. On the same week as the visits by Obama and The Rolling Stones, the Tampa Bay Rays are expected to play the first Major League Baseball exhibition game in Cuba since 1999, part of an extraordinary string of events in a country that spent the Cold War isolated from the United States and its allies. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan)
Manfred drew the Rays on Nov. 13 from a bin of teams that wanted to make the trip. U.S. teams played spring training games in Cuba before Fidel Castro's revolution but none appeared there from March 1959 until the Orioles faced Cuba's national team in Havana in March 1999.
Hundreds of workers were at the Latin America Stadium, built in 1946 and said to have a seating capacity of 55,000. They are fixing the roof, repairing damaged seating areas and grooming the field surfrace.
Workers with jackhammers broke up damaged pavement outside, and painters brightened the stadium exterior.
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AP freelance writer Desmond Boylan in Havana contributed to this report.
A worker uses a jackhammer on the path outside the Estadio Latinoamericano baseball arena in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, March 1, 2016. On the same week as the visits by Obama and The Rolling Stones, the Tampa Bay Rays are expected to play the first Major League Baseball exhibition game in Cuba since 1999, part of an extraordinary string of events in a country that spent the Cold War isolated from the United States and its allies. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan)
Workers paint the walls outside the Estadio Latinoamericano baseball arena in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, March 1, 2016. On the same week as the visits by Obama and The Rolling Stones, the Tampa Bay Rays are expected to play the first Major League Baseball exhibition game in Cuba since 1999, part of an extraordinary string of events in a country that spent the Cold War isolated from the United States and its allies. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan)
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