Sources: Reds To Host '15 MLB All-Star Game; Payroll Cuts Could Have Hurt Marlins' Chances

The MLB All-Star Game will "return to Cincinnati in 2015," according to sources cited in a front-page piece by John Fay of the CINCINNATI ENQUIRER. MLB Commissioner Bud Selig is "scheduled to make the announcement when he is in town" tomorrow to also say that the "newest Major League Baseball Urban Youth Academy will be built in Cincinnati." It will be the "fifth All-Star game in the city, the first at Great American Ball Park and the first since 1988." Reds President & CEO Bob Castellini on Opening Day '12 said that the All-Star Game "was coming to Cincinnati, but he would not say when." The game "alternates between National and American League cities." This year’s game will be at Citi Field. Next year’s game will be at Target Field. Both parks are "newer than GABP, which opened in 2003." The Reds have "pushed to host the game since Castellini took over ownership of the club in 2006" (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 1/22). 

BAIT & SWITCH: Marlins President David Samson last year said that the team "would apply to have the 2015 All-Star Game played at Marlins Park." But in Miami, Clark Spencer wrote the Marlins "might have fallen out of favor with the Commissioner's office and lost all leverage to secure the All-Star Game when they blew up the roster and slashed payroll after the season, enraging the local fan base in the process" (MIAMIHERALD.com, 1/21).