Arch Madness: MLB, Cardinals Beginning All-Star Game Efforts

Sixteen Mini All-Star Arches Will Be Placed Around St. Louis

MLB and the Cardinals this week will begin the installation of 16 miniature Gateway Arches around downtown St. Louis and Forest Park in commemoration of the July 14 All-Star Game and related events. The downsized All-Star Arches, measuring about 10 feet wide and 10 feet tall, will be decorated with various MLB-related logos and colors, and recalls similar efforts in prior All-Star Game host cities such as the miniature Statues of Liberty placed around N.Y. last summer and the oversized cowboy boots used in Houston in '04. The miniature arches will remain in their assigned locales until early August. But the St. Louis Sports Commission, which is selling them as a fundraiser for its charitable foundation, will this week also begin marketing for 15 of the arches at $15,000 each. Each All-Star Arch purchaser will get a package of All-Star Game, Home Run Derby, Futures Game and FanFest tickets, and then ownership of the arches in August. The sports commission fundraiser is part of a much larger set of charitable initiatives being conducted in and around the All-Star Game. The Cardinals are purchasing the 16th arch, having it painted by local artist Dan Martin, and will install it in either their Hall of Fame Museum or Ballpark Village (Eric Fisher, SportsBusiness Journal).

SOMETHING TO CROW ABOUT: In this week's SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, Terry Lefton reports PepsiCo will be the presenting sponsor of the July 11 concert featuring musician Sheryl Crow as part of MLB All-Star festivities in St. Louis. Crow "will perform under the Gateway Arch at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial." This year's All-Star Game is being "positioned as very much a cause-related affair," and the concert is "being billed as the All-Star Charity Concert benefiting Stand Up to Cancer." Local activation plans are "incomplete, but are certain to include ticket giveaways." While a "relaunch of Pepsi's core soft drink brand has been at the center of all Pepsi marketing this year," sources said that Diet Pepsi "will also be involved, given its fit with" Crow's audience (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 6/15 issue).