Selig Plaza: kinda worth it?

Petco Park is going to host the 2016 All-Star Game. And it's all thanks to the hard work the Padres front office did to submit a worthy bid.

Ron Fowler: "we won because we had the best bud."

— Bill Center (@PadresCentral) January 16, 2015

OK: I see the fun . . . What Fowler said was: "We won because we had the best bid." Is impressive that they put together winning bid for '16

— Bill Center (@PadresCentral) January 16, 2015

Okay... and MAYBE naming something after Bud Selig MIGHT have helped. We all know the reasons Selig Hall of Fame Plaza was a bad idea. But maybe JUST MAYBE, in hindsight, there was a bright side to the whole ordeal.

This is me trying to be as positive as I can about a crappy situation, so bear with me... I can't be the only one who remembers that, not too long ago, one of the biggest criticisms of the Padres front office was that they hadn't done enough to get us an All-Star Game. One of the most constant complaints from Padres fans in recent years was that Petco Park had yet to host an All-Star Game despite being "due." Before Selig Plaza happened, the soonest San Diego was even remotely supposed to be in the running for was 2019. And sure, that would have been an ideal time to host the Game with it being the Padres' 50th Anniversary and the obvious significance of the number 19; but now we get an All-Star Game three years earlier than we could've imagined.

The whole "BS Plaza" fiasco was a nightmare for San Diego, but think about what the All Star Game will do for all of us. And if naming a small, virtually insignificant area of Petco Park after Bud Selig helped seal the deal, isn't that KIND OF worth it? Even a little? And it was a good lesson for our front office on the importance of anticipating the reaction of the fanbase when making decisions.

Okay, I can't even sell that lie to myself.

But hopefully a year from now when we're still reeling from the excitement of our first World Series win and looking forward to hosting some of the best in baseball during the All-Star Break, BS Plaza can be a blip on the radar. Thanks to AJ Preller, we have a much-improved on-the-field product to look forward to and a new era of Padres baseball is being ushered in; and an All-Star Game coming to our town next year is just the oreo cookie bits on top of the sundae.