Each specific sport’s All-Star game has its own set of issues that make it irrelevant for most fans or unremarkable to watch most years.  But it doesn’t have to be that way!

Technorati Tags: charity, NBA, sports

The basic problem is that an All-Star game, by definition, is an exhibition game.  This makes it difficult for the players to take it seriously and it makes it difficult for the fans to get very excited about the game.

From a league’s standpoint, they must try to make the game seem relevant or at least interesting without stooping too low and looking cheap or silly.  Each major sport’s league has responded to this challenge thus far in a manner that corresponds pretty well to the league’s overall standing with the public and general league personality.

The NFL hosts its All-Star game in Hawaii and embraces the vacation feel of the event.  The NBA embraces the “show” and features various skills competitions to varying degrees of success.  Major League Baseball trots out a home-run derby and has recently added to the stakes by making the World Series home field advantage dependent upon which side wins the All-Star game.  The NHL rolls out skills competitions and for a while that league divided the All-Star game into a regional battle with the North American players facing off against “The World.”

But in the end, two problems plague every All-Star game.  From the game standpoint, sloppy play reduces the joy of watching most games.  From a league’s standpoint, the self congratulatory nature of the game for the purpose of building up the league’s coffers is a difficult sell to the fans.

Why should the fans care?  Yes, the best players in the league are in one place, but the urgency is missing from the games from both the players and fan’s standpoint.  The respectability is missing from the game no matter how the leagues try to spin it.  The purpose of the game is to build up the league, but what kind of fan gets excited about the league.  That goal is too distant from the fan.  Fans care about things closer to them.  Fans get pumped up for games because their local team’s reputation is on the line, their city is on the line, and something close to them is at stake.  The league is a meaningless concept to most fans.

You can’t change the fact that the All-Star game is an exhibition game.  But you can change the self-congratulatory and meaningless image and turn the game into something fans, players, owners and league commissioners can all be proud to endorse.  The answer is to turn the All-Star game into a charity event.

Just this past week, TNT’s Kenny Smith organized a charity basketball game to be played in Houston to benefit the Hurricane Katrina victims.  The Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs also added an extra pre-season game which will be used to raise money for the hurricane relief projects.  Most major sports leagues, teams and many of the players in each league have made donations as well.

This is fantastic news for the organizations trying to help the survivors of this natural disaster.  But as we move on from this disaster, the number of events and special contributions will subside.

Imagine the positive publicity the NBA, for example, could generate if the annual NBA All-Star game was turned into a charity event or at least a partial charity event.  Each team could be playing for a specific charity, with the proceeds of the game going to that team’s charity.  Or each player could be playing for a charity and a portion of the proceeds could go to the charity of choice for each player on that team.

Additionally, a portion of the seating could be devoted to disadvantaged kids.  How nice would it be to see the lower bowl of an arena brimming with kids watching the league’s best players play for their charity?

Such a move should generate endless positive coverage for the league and produce emotional story lines leading up to and after each season’s All-Star game.  The hosting city would not only get the economic boost of the All-Star weekend, but numerous opportunities to generate good will in the local community and help local charities.

Additionally, players who might normally try to weasel their way out of playing in an All-Star game would have an extra incentive to be a part of the weekend to benefit their favorite charities.  And the competition level might even be a little bit higher as the players would have an altruistic motive to help their team win.

Is there a major sports league in America that would sacrifice all or a portion of the proceeds of their respective All-Star game to charities?  I’m not sure.  But I know as a fan I would be proud of any league that would dare to turn its All-Star largesse into a positive force for those in need.