#ASGdurham

Simply stated, we hosted the 27th Triple-A All-Star Game to brag on the renaissance of downtown Durham. Now that the five-day baseball festival is over, I can brag on our staff. 

GM Mike Birling and the Bulls' front office did a fantastic job of extending southern hospitality to our guests - the players and baseball execs from over thirty cities - and entertaining 25,000 attendees. 

They staged twelve public, private and media events in five days, managed the host hotel and ran a transportation program for our visitors. Their hallmarks were creativity, hospitality and dedication - dedication to the Bulls, the event and their co-workers. It paid great dividends!

That first shot of a capacity crowd at the DBAP was taken from a drone last Wednesday evening as the International League All-Stars prevailed over the Pacific Coast League's best, seen nationwide, on the MLB Network.

The Home Run Derby and All-Star game were SRO. The Fan Fest and Blackwell St. Block Party exceeded our expectations. The private events at Washington Duke Inn, Cameron Indoor Stadium and the historic Durham Athletic Park will be long remembered for moonshine tasting, the Duke mystique and Ed Mitchell's barbecue. 

THANK YOU to our title sponsor,
 Durham's global manufacturer of LEDs, CREE.

The Bulls have been universally complimented for raising the bar for this annual event. I'm reminded that my first Triple-A All-Star Game was in 1998 at Norfolk, and the gala was held on an aircraft carrier at anchor in the Hampton Roads harbor. It's very gratifying that we might have topped that in downtown Durham last week! 

Big Fun. Hard Work. Great Outcome. Thanks for coming!

Belting a Homer

I hereby convene Cree Triple-A All-Star Week in the Triangle! I am anxious to get underway.

Fan Fest Saturday. Block Party Saturday evening. Home Run Derby Monday. Open work-out and autograph session Tuesday. The Cree Triple-A All-Star Game Wednesday night. Click here for details.

My favorite All-Star Week accoutrement (that's French for bling) is the Championship Title Belt that goes to the Home Run Derby winner on Monday night. Tim Campbell, an assistant ticket manager gets the credit. It was his job to come up with the trophy. Inspired by championship wrestling - a great southern pastime - he commissioned this belt. And he sourced it in the southern hemisphere! It was handcrafted in Australia by Darren Hall of Championship Gold. I wanted a selfie with the belt, but I could barely lift it...

Buckle up! And partake of the All-Star festivities in Durham.

Bulls on FM @ 99.3

We are expanding the reach of Bulls’ flagship AM radio station WDNC...to the FM band. 

The heritage Bull City station (The Buzz | 620 AM) has a strong daytime signal in central and eastern NC, but at night – when most Bulls games are played – it’s beset by interference.

The Federal Communications Commission has authorized us to improve our coverage with two FM translators – limited power transmitters designed to serve a single community. One will cover Durham and the other will be beamed at Raleigh listeners. The first station our engineers have powered up is 99.3 covering Raleigh.

Program one of your radio pre-sets to 99.3. You’ll get all of the Buzz sports programming: Mike and Mark (The World’s Strongest Morning Show), Dan Patrick, Jim Rome, Dan Le Batard, Duke University sports and CBS Sports Radio.

Stay tuned for more info on the Durham translator later in the summer.