On April 16, 2019, Commissioner of Baseball Robert D. Manfred, Jr. announced in Philadelphia that Major League Baseball awarded the 2026 MLB All-Star Game Presented by Mastercard and accompanying All-Star Week events to the Philadelphia Phillies. Baseball's Midsummer Classic will be held in Philadelphia for the celebration of the 250th anniversary of American independence and follows suit from 1976, when Veterans Stadium hosted the All-Star Game in the year of the nation's bicentennial.