MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The Minnesota Twins will host the 2014 All-Star game at Target Field.
A person with knowledge of the decision, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither the Twins nor Major League Baseball had announced it, confirmed the news on Tuesday. The decision was first reported by the Star Tribune.
The Twins scheduled a news conference for Wednesday afternoon to make an unspecified “major announcement regarding an upcoming event to be hosted at Target Field,” which opened in 2010. The award of MLB’s 2014 midsummer showcase to Minnesota has been widely expected for years. Commissioner Bud Selig has all but declared it several times previously.
The 2013 All-Star game is set for Citi Field, home of the New York Mets. The Kansas City Royals hosted this year’s game at Kauffman Stadium.
Minnesota last hosted the All-Star game in 1985 at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, where the Twins played for 28 seasons before moving into their open-air, limestone-and-glass ballpark on the other side of downtown Minneapolis. They’ve sold an average of 35,202 tickets per game this year despite the worst record in the American League. The Twins lost 99 games last season, too, but drew more than 3.1 million fans.
Tampa Bay, an expansion team in 1998, is the only AL team that hasn’t hosted an All-Star game. Other than the Rays, the Twins had the longest current wait in the AL for the game. The Oakland Athletics are next, having hosted the game in 1987.
Miami and Washington, D.C., are the leading contenders for the 2015 game. Because home-field advantage for the World Series goes to the All-Star winner, Selig has said he’s reluctant to interrupt alternating All-Star sites between the leagues.
The Minnesota Wild hosted the NHL All-Star game at Xcel Energy Center in 2004, and the Minnesota Timberwolves were the home team for the NBA All-Star game at Target Center in 1994.
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