MLB Partners With New Dominican Complex During All-Star Week

By Terry Lefton, Editor-At-Large

Puerto Bani Complex Will Include 25,000-Seat Ballpark, Two Golf Courses, Equestrian Center

MLB is announcing today an All-Star Game-week sponsorship for the developers of a 4,000-acre residential complex in the Dominican Republic that will include a 25,000-seat ballpark along with two golf courses, an equestrian center and a polo field. The Puerto Bani complex will be on the Caribbean coast about 40 miles west of Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. It is scheduled to open in '12. The developers get "Official Sponsor of 2009 MLB All-Star Week" designation in the U.S. and the Dominican Republic. Puerto Bani will also serve as a participating sponsor at MLB All-Star FanFest, where it will sponsor a World Baseball Classic exhibit and host a youth baseball clinic. Under the deal, the Puerto Bani developers also get a spot in tonight's All-Star Game broadcast on Fox, where they will be one of five All-Star Game media sponsors using baseball-themed ads; the others are MLB corporate patrons Gillette, State Farm, Holiday Inn, Disney Films and Pepsi. MLB sponsor Taco Bell is using the Fox telecast to launch an unusual two-minute spot from agency DraftFCB. "Roosevelts," a parody of P Diddy's song "All About the Benjamins," will continue to air as a 30-second ad after its debut.