Major League Baseball’s planned Field of Dreams game, celebrating the famed 1989 movie of the same name, on August 13 in Dyersville, Iowa, has been postponed until next year.
The game had originally been announced last year as part of the 2020 schedule, with the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees set to play at at specially built ballpark on the filming site that has since become a popular tourist attraction.
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and MLB’s move to a regionally focused schedule for its amended 2020 season, forced a retooling of that game to have the St. Louis Cardinals instead be Chicago’s opponent for the game.
But the league’s desire to limit team travel wherever possible in its amended 60-game regular season helped fuel the decision to play the event in 2021 instead. The Cardinals are also now battling a fast-growing Covid-19 outbreak within its club. The White Sox-Cardinals game is now likely to be held back at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago.
The White Sox will be one of the teams for the 2021 MLB Field of Dreams game, with an opponent yet to be determined.
Fox Sports, which was to televise the 2020 MLB Field of Dreams game, had eyed the event as a showcase and ratings bonanza to help replace the loss of the 2020 MLB All-Star Game in Los Angeles due to Covid-19.
“We’re obviously disappointed to lose the All-Star Game, but we have an opportunity this year to have a really special midseason event…and I really believe this has an opportunity to be our most-watched regular-season game in several seasons. My hopes for it are quite high,” said Mike Mulvihill, Fox Sports executive president and head of strategy, last month.
