MLB is “planning a Wednesday afternoon news conference at Target Field, where Commissioner Bud Selig officially will award the 2014 All-Star Game to the Twins,” according to sources cited by Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. While being careful “to say that nothing is official, the Twins were busy inviting several former All-Stars and other local dignitaries to Wednesday's announcement.” The Twins have been “host to the All-Star Game twice -- in 1965 at Metropolitan Stadium and in 1985 at the Metrodome.” It will mark “the first time the Twin Cities has been host of an All-Star game in a major professional sport since the NHL All-Star Game was at Xcel Energy Center in 2004.” Selig did not “officially announce that the Mets would be hosts of the 2013 All-Star Game until this past May.” The Twins are “eager to get official word about the 2014 event because it [should] help drive season-ticket sales.” Teams typically “give season-ticket holders first dibs on buying tickets to All-Star festivities, which include the Futures Game and Home Run Derby.” All three events “sold out this year at Kansas City's Kauffman Stadium” (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 8/28). In St. Paul, John Shipley notes with the '13 ASG scheduled to be played at the Mets' Citi Field, choosing Target Field for '14 "would keep in place baseball's preference for alternating between American and National League parks." It also would "showcase one of baseball's newest stadiums" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 8/28).
