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Cincy goes big for its time in All-Star spotlight

MLB’s All-Star Game in recent years has boosted visibility, economic impact and media exposure for several smaller Midwestern cities, including Minneapolis last year, Kansas City in 2012 and St. Louis in 2009.

But the spotlight will likely shine even brighter on Cincinnati for this year’s All-Star Game, scheduled for July 14 at Great American Ball Park.

Cincinnati, despite its standing as the first U.S. city to field a baseball team of all-professional players in 1869, is MLB’s smallest media market. The Reds have not been to the World Series in 25 years, and have just four playoff berths since then. The city has not played host to a sports event with anything close to the global reach of which the All-Star Game, with distribution to more than 220 countries, can boast.

Mustaches are making their mark around Cincinnati as All-Star Game statues.
Photo by: MLB
As a result, the Reds and the Cincinnati region are embracing the once-in-a-generation opportunity on the world’s stage. MLB’s All-Star Game week continues to grow into a massive, weeklong spectacle that this year will include an Ariana Grande concert at neighboring Paul Brown Stadium, a Color Run and a downtown block party, along with the usual ballpark-based events such as the Home Run Derby, Futures Game and All-Star Game itself. The Reds have spent more than $9 million on improvements to Great American Ball Park, including a new Daktronics scoreboard set for installation later this week.

Cincinnati and Hamilton County have backed up the Reds’ work with a series of civic improvements in and around the city, including a redeveloped Over-the-Rhine historic district.

“There are lot of things, both public and private, that have timed up well and really coalesced around this event,” said Phil Castellini, Reds chief operating officer. “The ballpark looks great, and the city has never looked better. This is going to be an incredible vehicle to showcase Cincinnati.”

Despite the All-Star Game’s primary intent to showcase the game’s current stars, history will share the stage at this year’s game. An event logo unveiled last year featuring a 19th-century ballplayer with a handlebar mustache has since grown into a full-fledged theme for the week, seen in part by the series of mustache statues recently placed around the city. The mustache statues represent this year’s version of the All-Star Game statue concept that has featured apples in New York, cacti in Phoenix, and arches in St. Louis, among other symbols.

The historic focus will be seen in other ways, including the Reds’ staging a version of their traditional Opening Day team parade in concert with the MLB All-Star Red Carpet parade.

“The Reds and the city are very proud of their history, and you will see that played up significantly during the week,” said Marla Miller, MLB senior vice president for special events.

The final run-up to this year’s All-Star Game, however, has included controversy. Local hero and former Red Pete Rose, also recently hired as an analyst by All-Star Game broadcaster Fox Sports, has been scheduled for several months to be part of the event festivities. But an ESPN report last week said that Rose’s betting activities extended to his time as a player, contrary to many years of denials by Rose. Both MLB and the Reds have declined to say exactly what Rose’s role during the All-Star Week will be or whether that has now changed.

“He will be here. You will definitely be seeing Pete,” Castellini said.

The fan voting for the game’s starters, meanwhile, has been widely ridiculed because Kansas City players have held leads at up to eight positions at a time. But as MLB this year moved to all-online voting for the first time, league officials were happy with fervent fan interest boosting the vote to a record total of more than 420 million as of last week. By the time voting ends Thursday, the final count should surge toward, if not beyond, 500 million. And voting history suggests there will be late lead changes.

“Even if you separate out the votes for the Kansas City players, vote totals for everybody else are way, way up. Fans are highly engaged,” said Bob Bowman, MLB president of business and media. “You’re going to see other clubs awakened down the stretch as a result of what’s happened in Kansas City. And you can’t take anything away from the fans in Kansas City. They’ve been very passionate in the support of their club.”

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