MLB Block Party

When Major League Baseball and Pepsi set out to elevate the fan experience during All-Star Week in Minneapolis, they needed more than a traditional sponsor activation, they needed something that would draw people in, keep them engaged, and generate buzz well beyond the ballpark. What resulted was a first-of-its-kind culinary program that proved food belongs at the center of sports culture.

MLB and Pepsi tasked Elevate with designing a three-day culinary-forward experience within the MLB Sponsor Zone, timed to coincide with the Futures Game, Home Run Derby, and All-Star Game. The activation needed to feel authentic to the region, deliver star power, and create genuine fan engagement, not just foot traffic.

Elevate's culinary team curated a three-day culinary program built around five MLB/Pepsi-branded food trucks running lunch and pre-game dinner service daily, featuring a rotating cast of more than 20 local Minneapolis/St. Paul chefs alongside nationally recognized names including Andrew Zimmern, Nicholas Elmi, Bryan Caswell, Graham Elliot, and James Beard Award winner Michelle Bernstein. The program drew 35,000+ attendees, generated millions of Twitter impressions, and earned coverage from food and lifestyle outlets well outside the traditional sports media sphere, marking the first culinary-specific sponsor activation in MLB history. The weekend's signature moment was the MLB Hot Dog Derby, a chef competition ahead of the Gillette Home Run Derby that became a fan favorite and laid the groundwork for future culinary programming at MLB events.