Photo by Christopher Skillman
All the baseball world this week is hovering over Queens, where Citi Field is playing host to tonight’s All-Star Game. Whatever misgivings one might have about the New York Mets, this year’s Midsummer Classic venue is not terribly objectionable. Citi Field is nice, young stadium, and New York City offers plenty of accommodations for all the players, support personnel, and media that flock to the annual event.
The Washington Nationals also have a relatively new stadium—a year older than Citi Field, in fact—but they are still waiting their turn to host an All-Star Game. And D.C. hasn’t hosted one since 1969, when the Washington Senators, in their third-to-last season here, welcomed baseball’s elite to RFK Stadium.
But the Nationals and D.C. officials want to their spot in Major League Baseball’s queue, The Washington Post reports. All they have to do is impress Commissioner Bud Selig, who alone decides which cities get to host the All-Star Game. And while playing in one of the sport’s newer stadiums is a big asset, it’s not the only factor.
Franchises wishing to host the all-star game submit bids to the commissioner’s office, stating their case and laying out how they would handle the logistics, from bus routes for players to ensuring requisite lodging. The commissioner then selects the host city. There is no vote and little deliberation; it is Selig’s decision.
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The Nationals hoped to win the bid for the 2015 All-Star Game, but MLB awarded the game to the Cincinnati Reds, who opened Great American Ball Park in 2003. This spring, principal owner Mark Lerner said he believed the lack of development around Nationals Park at the time MLB made the decision was a factor.
Venues are only announced through 2015’s game—next year’s will be at Target Field in Minneapolis—but considering baseball likes to switch off between American League and National League sites, the 2016 game will be at another American League venue.
And Nationals Park might not be the only contender. As the Post notes, the Miami Marlins may some day want to show off that big, garish ballpark that opened last year, and the Los Angeles Dodgers haven’t hosted an All-Star Game since 1980. But D.C. officials are confident it’ll happen soon for the Nationals.
“It’s only a matter of time,” a spokesman for Mayor Vince Gray tells the Post.
For one thing, it might actually be a major sporting event the District can handle. Supposing the Nationals land the 2017 All-Star Game, Navy Yard will have seen several more years of residential and commercial development, and transportation options between Nationals Park and the rest of D.C. might be more plentiful, too. Host cities also enjoy about $50 million in additional revenue from the All-Star Game. If anything, it’s a surer bet than any cockamamie dream of D.C. a global sporting event it can’t handle.
One other reason why the Nationals could get the All-Star Game in the next few years: The Phillies are unlikely to make a bid anytime soon. Even though Citizens Bank Park is four years older than Nationals Park and has not yet hosted, the Phillies have a habit of only hosting All-Star Games in years that are major anniversaries of the United States. Expect them to wait until America’s sestercentennial in 2026.
