On a typical game day in Arlington, Globe Life Field is colored in two tones: Texas Rangers blue and red.
Tuesday was far from a typical game day.
Baseball fans wearing Rangers jerseys walked side-by-side with the Washington Nationals red, Houston Astros orange, New York Yankees navy and Pittsburgh Pirates yellow — all brought together from across the country for the 94th MLB All-Star Game on July 16.
It was the first time since 1995 that Arlington has hosted All-Star Week. From Friday to Tuesday, the city turned its entertainment district into an “All-Star Village,” featuring food, games, baseball relics and the world’s largest baseball.
As Eric Nash walked outside the Rangers’ former home of Choctaw Stadium, threading the family stroller between the baseball-themed carnival games and merchandise, he wore his St. Louis Cardinals jersey with pride.
He’d driven his family 12 hours to get to Arlington, and he would have driven farther if required, he said. The family of six tries to attend as many All-Star Games as possible, and Nash didn’t think twice about coming to Texas.
“It’s hot; it’s humid,” he said. “But it’s fun.”
Nolan Luiz, 11, left, hangs on Velcro with his brother Lucas Luiz, 8, in Arlington’s Choctaw Stadium as part of “All-Star Village” festivities on July 16, 2024. (Drew Shaw | Arlington Report)
How are the All-Star Game rosters created?
The game is composed of 64 players from the MLB’s 32 teams. The starting nine spots for each team are selected by fans, and the final spots are decided by MLB players and the MLB commissioner’s office.
The teams represent the National League and the American League. Thirty-two players play on each side. This year, three players from the Rangers played for the National League team.
Washington Nationals fans Luke and Kate Dallaire flew their family in from the nation’s capital for the game. For their three sons, it was the first baseball game they’ve ever attended.
“We’ve set the bar very high,” Kate said, hugging her youngest son, Milo. “The two big kids are starting their first baseball season this fall, so they’re learning about the sport in the best way possible.”
But for other baseball fans, the commute to the stadium was routine. Cindy and Curtis Copeland, Keller residents attending the game in well-worn Rangers jerseys, have been fans of the team since their first date at a game in 1984.
Two years later, they were married. By 1990 they were season ticket holders, and have been ever since.
“I’m not sure she knew what baseball was before she knew me,” Curtis said.
“I called it football,” Cindy followed, laughing.
She was a little uncomfortable with the number of Houston Astros jerseys on her home turf, but she said she’d bear through it in the spirit of the All-Star Game.
Cindy Copeland looks at signed baseballs on display in Arlington’s Choctaw Stadium during the MLB All-Star Game on July 16, 2024. (Drew Shaw | Arlington Report) Local and MLB officials expected All-Star Week’s turnout to mirror last fall’s World Series, when attendance to Globe Life Field games hovered around 42,000, breaking Rangers attendance records.
Arlington residents living near the entertainment district shared the same sentiment: this week’s traffic was nothing out of the ordinary.
Paula Bee Cole, an Arlington-based Lyft and Uber driver, said in a Facebook post that the week’s traffic was “not near as bad as a [Cowboys] game.”
The Dallas Cowboys play their home games at AT&T Stadium, which neighbors Globe Life Field. The team’s home games averaged 93,594 spectators, according to ESPN’s records for the 2023 season — more than double the estimated All-Star Game attendance.
Concerts at the stadium also tend to attract larger crowds. Taylor Swift’s Arlington performances in 2023 reported 210,607 attendees over three days.
Jerseys for the American League and National League hang in a merchandise shop in Choctaw Stadium during the MLB All-Star Game in Arlington on July 16, 2024. (Drew Shaw | Arlington Report) Many locals try to avoid driving around the stadium traffic, but others head straight into it.
For Randy Ford, the president of J. Gilligan’s Bar & Grill in downtown Arlington, the stadiums 2 miles down the road are central to how his restaurant engages with the community. On game days, J. Gilligan’s offers shuttles from the restaurant to the entertainment district.
The service turns into a hefty business opportunity during spectacles like the All-Star Game. During Monday’s Home Run Derby at Globe Life Field, 212 people took the restaurant’s shuttle. Ahead of Tuesday’s game, Ford expected the number to top 250.
But, Ford said, All-Star Week was a small taste of what Arlington could see in 2026 when it will host nine matches in the group stage of the World Cup tournament.
Arlington officials have compared hosting one game of the international soccer tournament to hosting four Super Bowls, as soccer fans travel from across the world.
Still, the scale of Arlington’s stadiums isn’t lost on Dallas-Fort Worth locals. Tuesday’s All-Star Game was Dallas native John Goodner’s first, and he attended it with his best friend since high school, David Pascua, a self-described “baseball superfan.”
“I’ve grown up watching the All-Star Game my entire life, and this is the first chance I’ve got to come where it’s local to me,” Goodner said. “It’s a bucket list thing for me.”
Drew Shaw is a reporting fellow for the Arlington Report. Contact him at drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org or @shawlings601.
Ryan Thorpe is an audience engagement fellow at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at ryan.thorpe@fortworthreport.org.
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This article first appeared on Arlington Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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