For years Mike Brooker and his compatriots in Bangor Senior Little League worked to get the Senior League Eastern Regional baseball tournament in Bangor.

Little League Baseball did them one better last November when Bangor was awarded the Senior League World Series. The tournament will be played Aug. 11-17 at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor.

Now Brooker and friends are working to raise the money necessary to host the tournament.

Brooker said approximately $115,000 has been budgeted for the event. Little League Baseball provided $40,000. The remaining $75,000 must be raised through donations and sponsorships.

At its meeting Monday night, the Bangor City Council authorized $7,600 for the World Series.

“Most of that is in-kind donations,” Brooker said.

It includes 100 man-hours of police coverage at the tournament at $33 per hour, the use of the Civic Center for an awards banquet and $2,500 for the banquet itself.

Brooker said sponsorships range from $50 to $20,000. A tournament patron donation of $50 is awarded with two tournament passes and a listing in the tournament program. A $500 sponsorship receives a half-page ad in the program and five tournament passes.

“We’re out beating the bushes. Our largest expense is more than $33,000 to house and feed the kids while they’re here,” Brooker said.

The teams will be housed and fed at Husson College. However, Brooker said the college can’t donate the lodging and food as an in- kind contribution due to NCAA regulations.

The tournament had been hosted by Kissimmee, Fla., for the last 16 years. Brooker said the two men who had organized and ran the tourney died and the city decided it no longer wanted to host the tournament.

“Little League approached us. They knew we were interested in hosting a higher level tournament,” Brooker said.

Bangor was awarded the tournament for the next five years.

“Unless we were to absolutely fall on our faces we can have the tournament as long as we want,” Brooker said.

The tourney field will include four international teams, five regional teams from within the United States and the host team – a team from Maine District 3. It will feature some of the best 15- and 16-year-old baseball players in the world.

Brooker said there is still much work to do to get ready for the event.

“The important thing at this point is that we’re at about 50 percent of our financial goal. Sponsors should know that they’re going to be put in a program that will be seen all over the world,” Brooker said.

Brooker is receiving plenty of help. He is part of a 12-person committee and he said he has a list of about 12 people who have indicated a willingness to volunteer.

“I need help with mentoring teams – a local contact person for each team. Instead of 10 coaches trying to contact me, they’d have some with knowledge of the area to help them. When we were at the Eastern Regional last year, someone took me to the post office twice. It may not seem like much but it was a big help,” Brooker said.

Brooker said his biggest fear is that the tournament could be overshadowed by the National Folk Festival. The festival is scheduled for Bangor the week following the tourney.

“I think the folk festival has been a little better publicized to this point. We’re both competing for the same sponsorship dollars and it’s a little hard,” Brooker said.

Brooker sees the tournament as an economic boon to the area. He believes Bangor will receive national exposure beginning in 2004 when he expects ESPN to begin televising each age group Little League championship games as part of its new contract.

“When you have an international event here every year it really makes Bangor and Maine a focal point. Look at Williamsport [Pa., site of the 11- and 12-year-old Little League World Series]. It’s a town the size of Bangor. People go back year after year. When people see what we have to offer as a vacation destination, they’ll come back.”

Don Perryman can be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or dperryman@bangordailynews.net