This summer’s All-Star Game at Angel Stadium of Anaheim is expected to have a big economic impact as media, players, baseball executives and fans descend on the city in July.
Before then, the game is set to give a boost to some of the county’s nonprofits.
Major League Baseball is giving the hosting Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim a “substantial seven figures” to distribute to nonprofits, team spokesman Tim Mead said.
The money, estimated at around $2 million, comes from baseball’s All-Star Legacy Fund.
Word on which nonprofits will receive money is likely to come in April, team Chairman Dennis Kuhl said.
The Angels and MLB are looking to leave a “lasting mark” on the community through donations, he said.
“We’re so excited about it, to have this opportunity to leave our mark,” Kuhl said.
Kuhl, who was named team chairman late last year after serving as president, is spearheading talks with MLB to identify nonprofits for funding.
MLB officials visited the county last week, he said, for a first look at potential recipients. They’re set to return in March, according to Kuhl.
One goal of the spending is to promote baseball to needy kids.
The team’s “been working with the city of Anaheim to identify certain areas of the city in regards to baseball field renovations,” Kuhl said.
The Angels won’t just be writing checks, according to spokesman Mead.
“It’s all-encompassing,” he said. “We’re going to have certain expectations of what is done with the money. It’s something that you can follow and watch the progress of, the evolution.”
The money will undoubtedly be welcomed by local nonprofits, which have struggled with less giving and increased demand for services with the down economy.
“It would be a huge and wonderful, wonderful gift,” said Maria Chavez Wilcox, chief executive of Orange County United Way, an affiliate of Alexandria, Va.-based United Way Worldwide.
United Way funds various other nonprofits to improve education, incomes and health among the needy.
The group has seen a doubling in requests for food assistance since mid-2008, Wilcox said, and is seeing more requests for shelter and legal assistance.
United Way works with the Angels Baseball Foundation. The two put on Walk United, a 5-kilometer fundraising walk set for May.
John Carpino, who succeeded Kuhl as Angels president last year, sits on United Way’s board.
MLB gives money for charitable donations to All-Star host teams each year.
The numbers have gotten bigger through the years: In 1989, the last time the Angels hosted the game, the team received $240,000 for local charities.
Last year, the hosting St. Louis Cardinals distributed $2 million among several nonprofits.
The Cardinals gave money to build a youth baseball park on a site near Sportsman’s Park, a celebrated stadium that once housed the team.
Education was a big focus of giving in St. Louis. More than $850,000 was earmarked for scholarships, including College Bound, a program that helps high school students prepare for college.
Redbird Rookies, the Cardinals’ youth baseball program, awarded $5,000 scholarships for up to 10 of its participants to use for college.
Money also was used to fund a St. Louis Children’s Hospital mobile van that provides free medical screenings and immunizations to schoolchildren.
The Cardinals, through their Cardinals Care charitable arm, contacted the hospital about funding what’s dubbed Healthy Kids Express, said Janice Bailey, vice president of the St. Louis Children’s Hospital Foundation.
“We didn’t ‘apply’—I think (we got the money) because of our pre-existing relationship with the Cardinals,” she said.
