On Wednesday, the Los Angeles City Council signed off on a motion to negotiate a contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers over the use of city resources to potentially bring the MLB All-Star Game to Dodger Stadium.
As it currently stands, the Dodgers have gone the longest with hosting the Midsummer Classic, as it was last held at Dodger Stadium in 1980. The next closest organization is the Washington Nationals, who hosted in 1982 when they were the Montreal Expos.
They are set to host the game this summer, while Progressive Field in Cleveland is scheduled to host in 2019.
No one has been awarded the 2020 game yet, and according to Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group, Dodgers president Stan Kasten intimated that is the year the organization is pursuing:
“We want it for the fans,” Kasten said. “We obviously are very interested as we have been since the day we got here. We’ve had a lot of conversations. I think the conversations have been good. I think we’re making progress on putting everything in place to get the game.
“I don’t want to say what year yet but we are working on getting the very first one we can.”
The NBA All-Star game was in the city of Los Angeles just a couple of weeks ago, and it brought a lot of buzz to the city and its economy. Part of the reason the L.A. city council is trying to pursue the MLB All-Star Game is that they are hoping it will do the same.
The venue for each All-Star Game is chosen subjectively by an MLB selection committee, and the fact that the Dodgers have not hosted in almost 40 years bodes well for them to get one in the near future.
