DENVER, Colorado: The 91st All-Star Game and its related events are coming to Coors Field, Major League Baseball officially announced Tuesday.
The Midsummer Classic will be back at Coors on July 13 for the first time since 1998. In addition to the game and the Home Run Derby, this will be the first year that the MLB Draft will be part of All-Star festivities. The Draft is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, July 11, at a to-be-determined venue in Denver.
MLB awarded the game to Denver after it announced last week that it would relocate the All-Star Game and Draft from Atlanta in response to the passage last month of S.B. 202, a Georgia law that will restrict voting access for residents of colour in the state, which US President Joe Biden recently criticized.
MLB’s decision was not without precedent among the major sports.
In the summer of 2016, the NBA moved the location of its 2017 All-Star Game (held the following February) from Charlotte to New Orleans in objection to North Carolina House Bill 2, which limited anti-discrimination protections in the state.
In March 1991, NFL owners voted to move the 1993 Super Bowl from Phoenix to Pasadena, Calif., after Arizona voters elected not to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a paid holiday. Arizona eventually recognized MLK Day and was awarded a Super Bowl in 1996 and again in 2008.
The move provides an opportunity to highlight Denver.
“We’re going to have to get things moving here quickly because a lot of times, cities have years in advance to plan,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “But I have tremendous confidence in our city and our ballclub as a great host. So I’m excited for everyone. I know that there’s a little bit of buzz around here today with the news.”
The Rockies had begun the process of bidding for a future All-Star Game, having supplied detailed plans for hotel, event space and security that took months to assemble, and MLB staff had already made several visits. The fact that they had already started that process is the reason why the city was chosen, which MLB noted in its announcement. To help support this year’s festivities on a short schedule, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock have committed to provide facilities and services to support the game.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in an official announcement: “Major League Baseball is grateful to the Rockies, the City of Denver and the State of Colorado for their support of this summer’s All-Star Game. We appreciate their flexibility and enthusiasm to deliver a first-class event for our game and the region. We look forward to celebrating our sport’s best players and entertaining fans around the world.”
“We are excited to host this year’s All-Star festivities at Coors Field,” said Rockies chief operating officer Greg Feasel. “We are confident that our organization along with the city, state, VISIT DENVER and the Denver Sports Commission are capable of putting on this premier event in a relatively quick time frame because of the preparations that had already been done. Summer in Colorado is something everyone in the country should experience, and we embrace this opportunity to show off our beautiful ballpark and everything our city, state and region have to offer.”
