SOUTH FLORIDA IS HOME BASE FOR ALL-STAR FUN
Marlins promising unique S. Fla. events
Major League Baseball’s All-Star extravaganza is more than just a game. South Florida is covering the bases with a week long lineup of fun for all. From a red-carpet parade through downtown Miami to a giant Zumba work out session, get ready to swing for the fences.
Since Babe Ruth hit the first home run in the inaugural year, baseball’s All-Star Game has been more than a showcase of the sport’s best players.
From an enhancement to the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago, the so-called Midsummer Classic has evolved into a nearly weeklong celebration of the sport and the region that hosts it. South Florida takes its turn in the spotlight for the 88th edition, Thursday through July 11, and there are a number of opportunities to share in the spectacle, even for thosewhodon’t go to the game.
“We’re going to be dealing with over 20 events off-site and at the ballpark. It’s going to be a busy place,” said Claude Delorme, the Miami Marlins’ executive vice president of operations and events. “That’s the really nice thing that people will realize, that thegameis secondary to all of these events taking place and showcasing the game of baseball.”
Marlins Park will be center stage for the Futures Game and
Legends/Celebrity Softball Game on July 9, theHomeRunDerby on July 10 and the All-Star Game on July 11.
Therewere a smattering of tickets remaining late in the week for the game, ranging from $280 to $363, and for the Home Run Derby at $250 to $335. Some cheaper options under $200were listed on resale sites, while prime seats were listed for well over $1,000.
But for a family All-Star experience, there are other options, including FanFest, which runs Friday through July 11 at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
Aside from Marlins Park, that will be the major hub of activity, with MLB expecting 100,000 visitors during the five days to what is fashioned as the largest interactive baseball theme park in the world.
Featured exhibits will include the National Baseball Hall of Fame andMuseum, the great players of theNegro Leagues, the All-American Girls Professional League and baseball history in South Florida. Young fans can test their skills in a batting cage, try to steal a base and participate in training drills.
MLB awards and trophies will beondisplay, aswell as theworld’s largest baseball bearing signatures from Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Derek Jeter, Yogi Berra, Willie Mays and other greats of the game. There also will be a steady flow of autograph sessions featuring popular figures from the past and present (current Marlins ChristianYelich andMartin Prado will appear on July 10-11).
FanFest tickets cost $35 for adults, $20 for ages 2-12, and $19 for ages 65+ and members of the military. There is a four-pack (two adults, two children) for $110, and several special offers such as buyone-get-one-free Friday.
“It is very family friendly, sowe try very hard to come up with creative concepts for ticket packages so that families can afford to go,” saidMarla Miller, MLB’s senior vice president of special events. “It is a very unique experience, because once you’re inside everything is really free.”
Those planning to attend FanFest are encouraged to buy tickets in advance as they are sold for entry at specified time slots. Once you enter there is no limit to how long you can stay that day.
“People will walk away from 3 to 3 ½ hours of entertainment for a very affordable price, and it’s fun for all ages,” Delorme said.
The firstMLBAll-Star Game in South Florida has been long in materializing. The2000gamewas awarded to the Marlins at their former home in Miami Gardens but revoked amid uncertainty about the future of the franchise with high-priced players from the 1997 championship being discarded and original owner H. WayneHuizenga seeking to sell it.
This year’s game was a reward to the region for buildingMarlins Park.
It would have been a much different event in 2000, not only due to the venue but to growth in the scope of All-StarWeek since then.
Although the centerpiece events are the same, Miller pointed out that this All-Star Week will be different from those that preceded it with the intent of putting a distinctive South Florida stamp on theweek of activities.
“What works in one market might not necessarily make sense in another market,” she said. “That’s why we have tailored different events that we’ve never done before. We didn’t do this in St. Louis, and we didn’t do the same thing in San Diego last year.”
That is best exemplified by two events unrelated to baseball, the Saturday night (July 8) MLB AllStar5KElectricRun in downtown Miami and the Sunday morning All-Star Zumba experience. The electric run will be a glitzy Miami show with a field of 3,000-5,000 runners expected for a dash through three exotic “worlds” of light and music followed by a free concert by rapper Lil Jon at Bayfront Park.
The park will again be the stage the following morning for Zumba, the high-energy dance fitness program that grew into a world-wide craze after founder Beto Perez moved from his native Colombia to Miami in 1999. Perez will lead the All-Star version, with musical accompaniment from reggaeton star Don Omar, as an expected 2,000 to 3,000 participants work up a sweat.
“I thinkwhenevents of this size and magnitude are hosted in any market, not everybody has access to go to the game,” Miller said. “So it’s up to us to come up with a variety of ideas and concepts that we think will appeal in the marketplace so that everyone can share in some type of All-Star experience.
“You don’t even have to be a great fan of our game, but you can celebrate the All-Star Game with baseball fans and enjoy the activities that would otherwise not be there if the All-Star Gamewas not being hosted in Miami.”
Miller said MLB is excited to have its midseason showcase in South Florida because the “market is used to large-scale events, so they really understand what it means to host something that is special.” Preparing for it has been a massive collaboration between MLB, theMarlins, various government entities, tourism officials and lawenforcement.
There are also about 1,300 volunteers, many of them coming fromout of townwhowork on the game year after year, Delorme said. MLB has about 300 personnel coming in.
The greater influx of people involved in various aspects of staging All-StarWeek is more difficult to pinpoint. MLB reserved 3,900 hotel rooms in Miami-Dade County and controlled about half of the 36,000-plus tickets to the game.
TheMarlins distributedmostof their ticket allotment to their season-ticket holders and sponsors. There was also a lottery that enabled some to buy tickets with MasterCard credit cards.
All-Star Week is touted as a welcome boost to tourism at an off time in South Florida, with an economic impact estimated at $70 million. Such projections are often disputed and refuted. A similar impact was forecast for the 2014 game in Minneapolis, and the actual figure turned out to be about $50 million or less.
But this one will cast a widespread spotlight on South Florida, from South Beach to Little Havana, with the game to be televised to about 160 countries.
“It’s very special just to finally be involved in another All-Star Game,” said former Marlin Jeff Conine, who was the MVP of the 1995 All-Star Game and is serving as an ambassador in this one. “To beonthis side of itnowhosting is a long time coming in Miami.
“It’s an event-driven town, and they know how to throw a party. So it’s going to showcase not only our stadium but the city of Miami. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Broward County will be on the periphery, with all of the associated activities set in Miami-Dade. Some Broward hotels have reported bookings of visitors for AllStarWeek, said CarolHudson, director of sports development for the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention& Visitors Bureau.
“Major League Baseball didn’t reach out to us for their official blocks [of hotel bookings],” Hudson said. “But any time you have an event of that size and magnitude it’s good for all of South Florida.”
MLB and the Marlins did include Broward and Palm Beach counties as beneficiaries from $5 million in charity initiatives tied to the event, with Boys& Girls Clubs in North Lauderdale and Belle Glade undergoing renovations and enhancements.
All-StarWeek gets underway at 10 a.m. Thursday with Play Ball Park opening at Bayfront Park, a one-acre, youth-sized turf-diamond where kids 4 to 17 will have a chance to participate in a variety of baseball activities, including stickball, for free throughout the week. It’s the first step to becoming an All-Star.
“Wewant to promote our game to our fans as well as promote the players, but we also want everyone to have a great experience of some kind,” Miller said.
cldavis@sun-sentinel.com, Twitter @CraigDavisRuns