5/16/12
By Ivan Pereira
Next year’s Midsummer Classic is headed to Flushing — and the mayor says the baseball extravaganza will be bring in big bucks.
Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig joined Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Wilpon family at City Hall Wednesday to announce that Citi Field would host the 84th All-Star Game next year — the record ninth time New York will have hosted the game.
The mayor touted the announcement as a big win not only for the NYC’s sports scene, but for Gotham’s economy as well.
The July 16, 2013, game — and the four days of pregame festivities such as the Fan Fest and celebrity softball game — will generate $191.5 million for the city, according to Bloomberg.
“Next year’s All-Star Game is going to demonstrate once again that there really is no place like New York for world-class sporting events,” he said.
Selig said the competition for the game’s location was enormous but the Mets’ owners and city officials put in a very good bid.
“The new ballpark, Citi Field — that was certainly a primary reason for it,” Selig said.
New York last hosted the All-Star Game in 2008 at the original Yankee Stadium during its farewell season. The Mets haven’t hosted the event since 1964, the inaugural year of Shea Stadium.
