The nearly weeklong festivities would be one of the largest sporting events ever held here.<\/p>\n
Still, the decision ultimately lies with MLB, which would take a comprehensive look at Baltimore, an oft-overlooked city in a league full of metropolises. MLB doesn\u2019t owe its teams All-Star festivities \u2014 as evidenced by Tampa Bay never seeing one \u2014 and teams must apply.<\/p>\n
The Orioles have not submitted a bid but are considering doing so, president of business operations Catie Griggs said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we\u2019re looking to the offseason, we\u2019re taking a harder look,\u201d she said. \u201cI do believe there will be a window soon to focus on this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Philadelphia Phillies, who will host Tuesday\u2019s All-Star Game, secured the event in 2019 on the strength of America\u2019s 250th anniversary. The Chicago Cubs, who have not hosted since 1990, are up next year (though the season is imperiled by possible labor strife<\/a>). The Toronto Blue Jays, who last hosted in 1991, and the Athletics, who will soon have a new home in Las Vegas, are among those next in line.<\/p>\n The Orioles are also in the conversation, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n The city has advantages: a renovated, iconic ballpark, a relatively new ownership group keen on hosting<\/a> and a walkable urban core.<\/p>\n But, compared to many cities with pro teams, Baltimore has fewer hotel rooms and less space for hospitality events. Some infrastructure projects \u2014 such as the Red Line<\/a> \u2014 have cloudy futures, and Baltimore\u2019s front porch, the Inner Harbor area, is expected to be under construction<\/a> for the bulk of the next decade.<\/p>\n Hurdles are plentiful. But no city is ever perfectly ready for an event, some observers say. Plus, Baltimore showed it could handle hundreds of thousands of attendees at Sail250<\/a> last month.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be huge,\u201d Gov. Wes Moore said in March<\/a>. \u201cThe All-Star Game needs to be in Baltimore.\u201d<\/p>\n When selecting All-Star sites, MLB reviews interest and viability years in advance. Stadium construction, of the sort Camden Yards<\/a> is undergoing, \u201ccan be a consideration,\u201d a league spokesperson said, but MLB looks beyond the ballpark, too.<\/p>\n The buildup to the game includes a flurry of spread-out events. For instance, when Washington hosted in 2018, many events were held at the convention center, a couple of miles from Nationals Park.<\/p>\n \u201cWe value hosts that are able to bring out the best of their market and fanbase in a way that is uniquely local while also being compelling to a national audience,\u201d the MLB spokesperson said.<\/p>\n The 1993 All-Star events, which celebrated the 1992 opening of Oriole Park, might be most remembered locally for Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston not playing Orioles pitcher Mike Mussina or for Seattle\u2019s Ken Griffey Jr. smacking a home run off the B&O Warehouse<\/a>. Off the field, Baltimore was abuzz for days.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not exaggerating: This city was on fire,\u201d said John Moag, who would go on to serve as the Maryland Stadium Authority chair from 1995-99. \u201cIt was a freakin\u2019 blast.\u201d<\/p>\n All-Star pageantry has mushroomed to a jam-packed five-day affair including a red carpet event, the amateur draft and the MLB Futures Game, in addition to a fan festival, the Home Run Derby and the game itself.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a lot. But Baltimore is capable of hosting such an event, city officials said. It came close on its 2026 FIFA men\u2019s World Cup bid<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n That World Cup application, a 55-page document submitted in 2017 and obtained by The Banner in an open records request, offers information that could be relevant for any large sporting event.<\/p>\n For example, it boasted of three major airports \u201cwithin a one hour drive\u201d \u2014 which must depend on who\u2019s behind the wheel \u2014 Baltimore\u2019s history as \u201cone of the top seafood cities in the world,\u201d and 10,000 hotel rooms within walking distance of the stadiums, plus 10,000 more within a 15-minute drive or light rail trip. (World Cup teams would have stayed at the Four Seasons, Sagamore Pendry, Royal Sonesta and the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront.)<\/p>\n MLB said it requires \u201cthousands of hotel rooms across numerous properties,\u201d and it takes into account how close those hotels are to events. Though some downtown hotels have recently struggled<\/a>, city officials said space for lodging would not be a problem.<\/p>\n Event spaces are also crucial. The World Cup application listed the convention center, Power Plant Live!, Camden Yards Warehouse, World Trade Center Observation Deck, Horseshoe Casino, B&O Museum, CFG Bank Arena and Pier Six Pavilion as potential sites. Those areas, plus new ones such as renovated spaces at M&T Bank Stadium, could host ancillary events for the All-Star Game.<\/p>\n The Orioles threw their hat in the ring to host in 2021, when MLB sought a last-minute replacement for Atlanta, and the possibility of a Baltimore All-Star Game has been discussed for years. Observers long pointed to the team\u2019s dispute with the Washington Nationals<\/a> regarding TV revenue as lowering the Orioles\u2019 chances of scoring the game. (Manfred denied that<\/a> in 2018.) The Angelos<\/a> family, Orioles\u2019 owners from shortly after the 1993 All-Star Game until two years ago, often butted heads with MLB.<\/p>\n \u201cOur past ownership was definitely at odds with MLB for virtually their entire tenure,\u201d Moag said, \u201cand that is not helpful at all.\u201d<\/p>\n Government support is essentially a prerequisite. The city, which would play a role in readying the area for a crowd of baseball lovers, and the state, which has paid for Camden Yards upgrades, appear to be on board.<\/p>\n \u201cBaltimore is fully supportive of the potential opportunity to host the MLB All-Star game again,\u201d Mayor Brandon Scott said in a statement, noting the city is excited to share \u201cour unique charm with the world.\u201d<\/p>\n A September 2025 state document for the \u201dMoonshots” initiative \u2014 obtained by The Banner in a records request \u2014 contained an \u201cAttracting Large Sporting Events to Maryland\u201d tab and specifically listed the 2029 MLB All-Star Game.<\/p>\n However, teams do not necessarily apply for a specific year. Although 2029 would likely be the earliest Baltimore would be picked to host, it might not be until the 2030s that the Orioles do so (if at all).<\/p>\n All-Star Games often center activity on a feature of the city, and MLB \u201cappreciates opportunities to program venues that truly feel local and allow the League to showcase special aspects of the host market.\u201d Baltimore\u2019s harbor would likely be incorporated into All-Star events.<\/p>\n Festivities could bring a fresh boost, both psychological and economic. The Seattle Mariners were All-Star hosts in 2023, when Griggs was that team\u2019s president of business operations, and she saw how it can take over a city \u201cin a really cool and special way.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt served as a really powerful galvanizer,\u201d she said, \u201cfor all of the incredible work being done around the city.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Maryland state government recently launched an effort, dubbed \u201cMoonshots,\u201d to identify transformative economic initiatives. One such goal: hosting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":747107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2374],"tags":[143,47,2538,5,182,4635,4,62,9930,12212,125,151],"class_list":["post-747106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimore","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimoreorioles","tag-baseball","tag-florida","tag-grapefruit-league","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-nyy","tag-os","tag-orioles","tag-spring-training"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116889405828201255","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/747107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Toronto's](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/MGSZNVC5YFBFDIAL7LAEHDSWLI.jpg\")
Toronto\u2019s Paul Molitor, left, and Devon White wait their turn during batting practice as part of All-Star festivities in 1993. (Carlos Osorio\/AP)<\/p>\n![\"Fans](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5ILGKREGZBE6TK7PWBGRURRFUU.jpg\")
Barry Bonds signs autographs for fans at Camden Yards. (RUSTY KENNEDY\/ASSOCIATED PRESS)<\/p>\n