Union expected to host MLS All-Star Game

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Major League Soccer and the Philadelphia Union have called a Tuesday press conference featuring Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter and MLS commissioner Don Garber to announce that the 2012 MLS All-Star Game will be played at PPL Park in the Philadelphia suburb of Chester.

The Union will serve as host of the All-Star Game after beating out Sporting Kansas City for the chance to host the summer event, which is slated to be scheduled for late July, sources told FOX Soccer on Monday.

The MLS All-Star Game is an annual exhibition featuring a match-up between MLS stars and, in recent years, high-profile international clubs. MLS has faced Manchester United in each of the past two MLS All-Star games, including last year’s match at Red Bull Arena.

The MLS All-Star Game has become an even more prestigious event to host for MLS markets now that the league has decided to have the MLS Cup Final played at the home of the highest remaining seed, rather than at a neutral site as it had been since the league started.

PPL Park seats 18,500, making it one of the smaller stadiums in MLS, a figure that should help make tickets for the 2012 MLS All-Star Game a hot commodity.