Copa de la Diversión back with a bang in 2021

After an offseason that's felt like it would never end, Minor League Baseball is nearly back, and it’s bringing its most colorful initiative with it.

Copa de la Diversión, MiLB’s season-long “Fun Cup” celebration of Hispanic communities across the baseball landscape, returns in 2021 with its most packed itinerary yet. Nearly two-thirds of Minor League teams will participate in the initiative this year -- the largest percentage of clubs in the five-year history of the program -- and the logos, uniforms and identities are as vibrant than ever.

“Sports have a unique and powerful ability to bring diverse communities together,” said Kurt Hunzeker, vice president of Minor League business operations for MLB. “You’re at a ballgame, and you can sit next to people, front, behind, left, right, they can be wildly different from you in every way, politically, socioeconomic, demographic. And yet in San Antonio when I was there, Fernando Tatis Jr. hits a home run, you’re high-fiving everyone around you.”

Hunzeker was one of the leaders at MiLB who piloted the Copa program in 2017, and what began with a handful of teams on short runs has turned into a community engagement and sports marketing juggernaut.

“We’re entering year five of a platform that continues to grow and get better because now the power is 100 percent with the participating teams,” Hunzeker said. “They’re the ones working with their local Hispanic chambers of commerce and civic organizations. Their businesses are transforming. It’s not just a few games a year on a promotional calendar. They’ve hired differently. They’ve gone out in the community and connected authentically in ways they never had before.”

This year, 76 of the 120 teams in the Minor Leagues will take part in Copa, engaging with local Hispanic and Latinx community members to provide gameday experiences and platforms of social engagement like never before.

The 2020 season was set to be Copa’s largest ever with 92 teams ready to participate. After the pandemic and the ramifications surrounding the restructuring of Minor League Baseball, the total team number is lower, but the participating percentage -- along with the total number of Copa games -- is higher than ever. Moreover, teams recognize the importance of their work as community linchpins in a COVID-altered world.

“They understand that probably now more than ever bringing diverse fans together to have some fun really is needed,” Hunzeker said.

To draw attention and spark fan engagement, teams begin with their most visible elements: the identities. And there are a few new faces on the scene.

This year, the Perros Calientes de Akron, Ranas de Rio de Greenville and Wepas de Worcester enter the competition, while other clubs like Medusas de Jersey Shore and Churros de San José introduce fresh color schemes. Taken together, Copa’s cornucopia of logos once again emerge as a distinct visual identity in the already-loud Minor League landscape, grabbing eyes and interest with bold combinations of pinks, yellows, greens, oranges and more.

Of course, Copa’s logo packaging is just the hook. From cultural education and bilingual PA announcements to diverse stadium vendors and donations to Hispanic-centric organizations, Copa is a comprehensive reshaping of the baseball experience, and it's only expected to grow. In fact, Hunzeker and his team are already engaging with teams on plans for 2022.

“I am very confident in saying we are going to be much higher than the 76 [teams] we are now -- much higher.”