NEW ULM — New Ulm has been awarded the 2026 Minnesota State DI American Legion Baseball Tournament.

The 16-team state tournament will be pod play with four, four-team pods and four different sites being used.

New Ulm will be in as the host team.

“We will use Johnson and Mueller Parks in New Ulm, along with Sleepy Eye and Springfield,” John Fischer, New Ulm Legion Baseball Committee

said. “Four teams will play each other at Johnson and four at Mueller. Four teams will play each other in Sleepy Eye and four teams will play each other in Springfield. The top two teams in each pod will come back and play in New Ulm in the finals on Saturday. Thurs- day and Friday is pod play at each site and then Saturday is the first round of bracket play, with Sunday the finals at Johnson.”

He said that using the fields at Essig or Searles would not work because of a lack of gate control.

Fischer said that New Ulm getting the state tournament was a long process that finally came to fruition because of the help of one person.

“They asked us two years ago — they did not have anybody for 2024 — so we went up there and sat down with them and gave them a proposal,” Fischer said. “But we told them that the finances don’t work because of the hotel reimbursement policy that they had. We told them that unless some- thing drastically changes, us or any out-state location is going to struggle to make this work and they under- stood that. But again they asked if New Ulm would propose a bid for 2026 — we said yes — we changed our (financial) numbers a little bit but we were still coming up short.”

But then came the help from a friend.

“We have Vern Kitzberger from New Ulm on the State Legion Baseball Board and that was beyond important,” Fischer said. “And he has continued to tell the board and reiterated the message that there will never be an out-state tournament again if something does not change on that hotel reimbursement plan. And Vern led the charge to increase the hotel reimbursement to 50 percent of your cost up to $20,000 and that is just so much better than they have done in the past. We will have a $40,000 hotel bill. We are an extension of the legion — we cannot hold a tournament and lose money.”

Fischer said that in changing that reimbursement policy, it has opened up the bids to out-state pro- grams.

“Now other out-state locations can come in and budget and bid on a state tournament because of that hotel reimbursement program,” Fischer said.

Fischer said that when he was at the meeting where New Ulm bid for the 2026 state tournament that they wanted New Ulm to put in a bid.

“They wanted us to come up there and just before I go into that meeting, they changed their hotel reimbursement policy,” he said. “And if a team is from a town 50 miles away or more you have to hotel them, so New Ulm is going to have to hotel 14 teams so that it was why it was so difficult for an out-state team to host.”

Fischer said that he gives Kitzberger so much credit because he has been spear-heading this for all out-state locations and not just New Ulm.

“Vern pushed this for two years and having him on the state board was just huge,” Fischer said. “And Vern has wanted this for years and I am convinced that the state wanted us to host because a lot of their board members come down for our Classic Tournaments and they know we run a nice tournament.”