One league’s All-Star game will be played at State Farm Arena on Sunday, the NBA’s. Another All-Star game is scheduled at Truist Park about four months later, MLB’s.
But while the NBA All-Star event is condensed to one day without ticket sales, the MLB All-Star game is still being planned -- at least for now -- as the culmination of a multi-day spectacle with fans.
“We’re very optimistic with our planning and with regard to how we’re approaching the All-Star game,” Braves President and CEO Derek Schiller said in an interview this week. “... Our approach is we’re planning for a full capacity, planning for full activities. I call it a normal-with-an-asterisk type of All-Star game planning.”
The asterisk, of course, is uncertainty about what will happen with COVID-19 between now and the July 13 game.
“I think all of us hope the pandemic will be in somewhat of the rearview mirror by then,” Schiller said. “Our planning cycle is obviously with the pandemic in mind. We’re thinking about all the areas we need to potentially be flexible with, but right now as we sit here today at the start of March, we’re planning with a very optimistic mindset.”
Part of the reason for that, he said, is the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. President Joe Biden said Tuesday that the U.S. expects to take delivery of enough vaccines for all adults by the end of May.
In addition to the game matching National League stars vs. American League stars on July 13, All-Star events are scheduled to include the Futures game featuring top prospects at Truist Park on July 11, the Home Run Derby at Truist on July 12 and a baseball fan festival called Play Ball Park on July 9-13. Baseball’s amateur draft also is set for July 11-13 in Atlanta as MLB plans to hold it in conjunction with the All-Star game for the first time.
The Play Ball Park fanfest is scheduled to be held in the Cobb Galleria Centre, near Truist Park, and to spill into the outdoor areas around The Battery Atlanta, Schiller said. As he described it: “Think about the streets of The Battery being largely closed. Think about the areas in and around the Cobb Galleria Centre and leading over here (to Truist Park) having a bunch of activations, baseball-themed exhibits, events, activities for kids and families and everybody in the community.”
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
The Braves last week sent an email blast seeking volunteers to help with All-Star week festivities. They’re hoping to line up 2,300 volunteers. That’s less than the 10,000-person volunteer force for the 2019 Super Bowl in Atlanta and a bit more than the 2,000 volunteers who had been lined up to help with the 2020 Final Four, which was canceled because of the pandemic.
“Major League Baseball and the Atlanta Braves are certainly getting our summer plans ready, and we are looking for your help,” the email blast read. “Come July, Atlanta will become the baseball capital of the world. The MLB All-Star Week Volunteer Program is your opportunity to be involved in a memorable event.”
According to the Braves, volunteers will be needed in Play Ball Park, at airports and hotels as greeters, at community events and to assist with field rehearsals, etc. No volunteer roles will involve working in the stadium during the All-Star game.
Online registration for volunteers (age 18 or older) is open at mlb.com/all-star/volunteer. Applicants are subject to background checks.
The Braves have said 2021 season-ticket holders and premium club members will have priority access to All-Star tickets. Some season-ticket holders said they were invoiced by the Braves last month for tickets to the All-Star game, Futures game and home-run derby in their regular seat locations.
While the NBA’s decision to play its streamlined All-Star game in Atlanta was officially announced just 2-1/2 weeks ahead of Sunday’s event, the Braves’ planning for the MLB All-Star game goes back years. They began pursuing the event when Truist Park (then named SunTrust Park) opened in 2017 and were awarded the 2021 game by MLB in May 2019.
Whether the years of planning turn out as the Braves envisioned depends largely on what happens with the pandemic in the coming months. The Braves have said they expect to have fans in Truist Park for the start of the season and will determine no later than March 12 how many can be there for April games. They hope the attendance limit will increase as the season progresses, but it’s too early to know where it will be by July.
“There is a chance -- and what I believe to be a large chance - that the Major League Baseball All-Star game here in Atlanta has the opportunity to be one of the first big mega-events in our country where we’re opened up and can resume some degree of normalcy in our lives,” Schiller said this week.
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