Perfect Game Goes Global with MVP International Athletics Partnership

Perfect Game has built a reputation as a premier youth baseball operator in the United States, hosting some of the biggest events in that space.

Now, the organization is partnering with MVP International Athletics to take things to a global level. The organizations have announced a tour to Australia will begin December 26 with eight more trips on the schedule for 2025 and a few additions coming in the near future.

“These events are more about the experience of the players making memories with their families and the culture and getting to see other places,” said Taylor McCollough, vice president of operations at Perfect Game USA. “A lot of these teams and families, they’re going to the same ballparks every weekend and playing in the competitive tournaments. On the PG side, what really excited us about this partnership is the once in a lifetime type of opportunity and it’s more about making memories than playing competitive baseball.”

The 2025 schedule will see the company taking its athletes to Spain (June 16-25), Germany (June 21-27), Italy (July 7-17), the Netherlands (July 12-18), Puerto Rico (July 19-25), central Europe (July 21-30 and August 2-8), Japan (August 4-13) and the Dominican Republic (August 4-11).

While there will be plenty of time on the diamond, Mark Gjormand, co-owner of MVP International, says this will not be a typical baseball trip.

“When we go to Rome, we would go see the Colosseum and tour the Vatican,” Gjormand said. “Our tour guides are the best in Europe and throughout the world. If we’re in the Dominican, we may be jumping waterfalls or going on a catamaran, maybe a bonfire on the beach with one of the Dominican teams where we play stickball.”

What Perfect Game and MVP International have worked to create is a vacation experience with baseball mixed in. From the time a family lands in the destination, everything is taken care.

“MVP is picking them up at the airport and taking them to the four- or five-star hotels,” McCollough said. “They’re getting the translators; they’re getting everybody involved that need to be involved to make sure that these trips are memorable and that the families can just go have fun and not worry about the rest of it. So we felt that it was a perfect partnership to join with these guys to offer it to all the PG customers.”

While MVP International provides the hospitality side of things, Perfect Game used its connections in the baseball world to find destinations, specifically Australia, where it will have a 12U and 18U team compete. Perfect Game has been working on a partnership with Baseball Australia for three years, which included two teams from down under coming to America this year and competing in tournaments in Atlanta, across Florida and in Birmingham, Alabama.

“We’ve traveled all those countries over the years and they each bring their own energy and vibe,” Gjormand said. “It’s not just about baseball and sports, but we’re going to get embedded in their culture. The goal here is to make this a universal game and Perfect Game is the worldwide leader in this space and their platform is unbelievable. This is the perfect relationship for both of us.”

Another feature of the trips is that Perfect Game is bringing former MLB players along as coaches and mentors for players. Former World Series champions Tom “Flash” Gordon and Scott Erickson will accompany players throughout the Australian tour. Gordon and Erickson are two of 21 former MLB players who are investors in Perfect Game.

“We have a lot of former MLB players that are in the PG family,” McCollough said. “And that was something that we felt was important, to give these families and these players the experience to be coached and managed by former big league players that can bring a lot of the stories and history, but also the on-field excitement of it. Those are the first two of more that will be coming next summer.”

Gjormand has been involved in baseball for nearly four decades as a high school coach in Virginia. He also owns MVP Baseball Academy, a baseball school with 44 teams located in Herndon, Virginia.

“We can’t wait to get this going and starting up with Australia,” he said. “We started sending teams overseas back in 2013 and I’ve been personally taking teams overseas since the summer of 2008. We couldn’t be more excited for this new adventure with Perfect Game.”