MLB All-Star Game Site # 3: Puerto Rico
Why not play the 2021 MLB All-Star Game at Hiram Bithorn Stadium?
Hey, if nothing else, we can talk about that one season the Expos played a bunch of games there.
Seriously though, this would be a home run for the league if they really want to trumpet their willingness to embrace diversity. This could also really help out a community that passionately cares about baseball, and lost a lot economically as a result of the pandemic. Puerto Rico relies very heavily on tourism dollars, a revenue source that has dried up dramatically over the past year.
Among the things lost? An MLB regular season series.
Playing the All-Star Game in London- another non-contiguous city that also lost a baseball game- would be a stretch given the turnaround. Plus, as with Canada, we’re talking another country in that case. A short flight to a U.S. territory poses far less challenges.
And as with Omaha, no MLB fanbase is being jilted. No team owner is getting extra money that one of their twenty-nine fellow owners is not.
This is one that would likely be the most exciting to baseball fans of the three choices presented, as it would absolutely have the novelty factor going for it.
As for fans traveling to this game, it certainly becomes a much more expensive proposition. But is that really a problem? If the main motive is drumming up interest for television ratings, it shouldn’t at all. In that event, just give the tickets away to Puerto Rican children and first responders. If it is done in the spirit of economic relief to the island, then that’s arguably an advantage. And who’s to say how many fans will be permitted in any stadium, anywhere, come July?
Things may be looking up, but we’re not out of this yet. With less fans in attendance than ever before, it’s also never mattered less where the game happens.
Might as well have some fun with the choice then, MLB. So do us a favor, and don’t just give it to the Yankees.