Major League Soccer today awarded the 2024 MLS All-Star Game to the Columbus Crew. The 2024 MLS All-Star Game will be played on July 17, 2024, at Lower.com Field.

The opponent for the 2024 MLS All-Star Game will be announced at a later date.

Columbus has hosted Major League Soccer’s midsummer showcase event twice (2000, 2005), but the match and MLS All-Star Skills Challenge arrive at Lower.com Field for the first time since the stadium’s opening in July 2021.

The Ohio city becomes the first MLS city to host their third All-Star Game. Places like San Jose, LA, Washington, Colorado, New Jersey, and Chicago have each hosted the ASG multiple times across various stadiums.

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So why hasn’t FC Dallas hosted this?

For starters, the location of Toyota Stadium may have something to do with it. Also, being a mid-summer game on the calendar doesn’t help when you factor in the heat outside and the lack of good shade over half of the stadium.

Secondly, with all of the new stadiums popping up over the last ten years across MLS, it makes sense for the league to highlight them more than what is now becoming one of their oldest soccer-specific venues.

Lastly, while we haven’t confirmed this with the team, hosting this event may not be high on their priority list at the moment until some stadium upgrades to the North and East ends of the stadium are done. It would be highly unlikely that FC Dallas, the Hunts or MLS would want to have a showcase event like the All-Star Game at Toyota Stadium with the way it looks right now. A pretty bare North End that contains an empty stage probably isn’t the best picture for anyone to have.

When will FC Dallas get to host the ASG?

At this point, not until 2025. And if we’re being honest, with newer stadiums in St. Louis, Cincinnati, and possibly Miami, the chance to host that year’s game will be pretty low for FC Dallas.

FC Dallas probably missed their best chance window to host this event back in the early 2010s when the league was smaller and new stadiums were still under construction.

Maybe in 2027 or 2028? After the World Cup-hype has died down.