The All-Star break for Major League Baseball is right around the corner, with the festivities running from July 13-16 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. 

As the Midsummer Classic grows closer, there is an organization that would like to have the annual event back in its ballpark: the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Arizona, which hosted the All-Star festivities for the first time in 2011, have not been selected to host it since. Recently, Diamondbacks president and CEO Derrick Hall joined Arizona Sports on 98.7 FM to talk about the desire to see Phoenix host once again, and he pointed to the high-quality experience in 2011 for evidence.

"I had lobbied hard with Commissioner [Bud] Selig for years," Hall said. "And I kept saying, ‘Bud, it's time for us to have one, we haven't had one.’ And he would say, 'Oh, it's too hot in the summer.’

"I'd say, 'No, it's not. We play indoors, and people are going to go from the air-conditioned convention center to an air-conditioned hotel to the air-conditioned ballpark,'" Hall added. "And it ended up being an unbelievable All-Star Game."

Hall, who joined the Diamondbacks’ front office in 2005 as senior vice president before being named president the following year and earning the title of CEO in 2009, was integral in getting Phoenix to host.

Now, Hall and the Diamondbacks will have to convince Rob Manfred, who succeeded Selig in 2015 as the 10th commissioner of Major League Baseball.

"He [Selig] and others admitted it was one of the best," Hall said. "And even the weather cooperated during that week. But regardless of the weather, I think it's time as well."

Despite his aspirations to return the Midsummer Classic to Phoenix, Hall is realistic in what it will take to do so.

"However, they're going to probably wait until we have renovations completed," he said. "Or a majority of the renovations, because they either look for a new ballpark or a highly renovated, newly renovated ballpark to host an All-Star Game. 

"So, we are setting up. I mean, it looks like we're going to get back in that line of, 'Hey, it's our turn,’ but I want to get a lot of those major renovations done over the next couple of years first."

Chase Field, formerly Bank One Ballpark, opened in time for the 1998 season for the Diamondbacks, who were making their debut alongside the Tampa Bay Rays (formerly the Devil Rays) as the two MLB expansion teams. 

In September 2025, the franchise took an important step forward toward renovating the stadium when Gov. Katie Hobbs signed H.B. 2704 into law, which allowed the tax dollars from Chase Field to be used toward renovations.

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