PHILADELPHIA — The All-Star Game is coming back to Philadelphia with more than a baseball roster attached to it.
It is arriving with a soundtrack.
Major League Baseball announced Tuesday that Jennifer Hudson, Patti LaBelle, Miles Teller and Boyz II Men will be part of the entertainment lineup for the 2026 MLB All-Star Game, giving the 96th Midsummer Classic at Citizens Bank Park a mix of national star power, Philadelphia roots and Pennsylvania pride.
The game, presented by Mastercard, will be played Tuesday, July 14, with FOX’s national coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET.
The lineup is designed to fit a stage bigger than one night of baseball. With the All-Star Game landing in Philadelphia during America’s 250th anniversary celebration, MLB plans to build the pregame ceremony around baseball’s place in American life, using music and storytelling to connect the sport, the city and the country’s history.
Hudson, an Emmy, Grammy, Tony and Oscar winner, will perform “America the Beautiful” as part of the opening portion of the ceremony. She will be joined by the U.S. Army Old Guard Fife & Drum Corps, with orchestral accompaniment from the Philly Pops.
That will be followed by a narrated tribute from Miles Teller, the actor and Pennsylvania native who has long been public about his Phillies fandom. Teller’s role will center on baseball’s impact on American life, a fitting bridge for a game being staged in the city where so much of the country’s founding story is rooted.
Then LaBelle, the Philadelphia-area native known as the “Godmother of Soul,” will close the pregame ceremonies with the national anthem. She will be accompanied by the Military District of Washington Joint Chorus and the West Point Band.
For a city that tends to measure authenticity by neighborhood, memory and connection, the choices give the night a distinctly local frame. LaBelle brings the Philadelphia soul. Boyz II Men bring one of the city’s most recognizable musical legacies. Teller brings a Pennsylvania-born Phillies connection. And Citizens Bank Park, already preparing to host the sport’s biggest summer showcase, becomes a stage not just for the game’s best players, but for the city’s place in the American story.
Boyz II Men will perform later in the night during Major League Baseball’s Stand Up To Cancer placard moment, held with Mastercard at the conclusion of the fifth inning. The All-Star Game tradition, which began in 2011 in Phoenix, invites fans, players, coaches and viewers at home to honor loved ones affected by cancer by raising placards in a shared moment of reflection.
This year will mark the 16th edition of the Stand Up To Cancer moment at the All-Star Game.
“As we gather to celebrate America’s 250th birthday, Philadelphia is the perfect stage to bring this milestone to life,” Uzma Rawn Dowler, MLB’s chief marketing officer and senior vice president of global corporate partnerships, said in the league’s announcement. “Our All-Star Game programming pairs global star power like Jennifer Hudson with incredible local flavor, featuring Pennsylvania’s own Miles Teller and homegrown icons Patti LaBelle and Boyz II Men. This lineup captures the unique energy of the city while honoring how baseball has been a part of the American spirit for 250 years.”
The pregame ceremonies will be executive produced by Jesse Collins Entertainment, an Emmy Award-winning company that has produced several major live entertainment events.
The 2026 All-Star Game will air nationally on FOX, with Spanish-language coverage in the United States on FOX Deportes. ESPN Radio will carry the national radio broadcast, with Univision providing Spanish-language radio coverage. The game will also air in Canada on Rogers Sportsnet and TDA Sports, while MLB Network and MLB.com will provide broader coverage throughout All-Star Week.
For Philadelphia, the announcement adds another layer to a week that already includes the Capital One All-Star Village, the T-Mobile Home Run Derby and community initiatives across the region. But the centerpiece remains July 14, when the sport’s summer showcase returns to Citizens Bank Park and Philadelphia gets to present itself again as one of baseball’s great American cities.
This will be more than a pregame show.
It will be a reminder that when baseball wants to tell a story about America, Philadelphia is still one of the places where that story feels most at home.
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