Your first reaction was probably something like, “Wow, cool!”

Then, “Pft, of course.”

And finally, “Another one?”

Sports fans here in the Bay Area have been so blessed that we’re at risk of being burned out.

The region made some history earlier this year, when Levi’s Stadium became the first venue to host a Super Bowl and World Cup matches in the same calendar year. You’ve gotta wonder if we achieved another first this week.

Has a region ever been awarded two All-Star Games in the span of four days?

First, on Friday, came the long-speculated news that Oracle Park would host MLB’s 2028 Midsummer Classic. Then, on Tuesday, the WNBA announced that its All-Star festivities would be coming to Chase Center, just a mile down the San Francisco waterfront, in 2027.

The announcements only cemented San Francisco’s status as the epicenter of the sports universe. A run of power that began with NBA All-Star weekend last February now won’t see the City by the Bay step out of the spotlight until at least 2028.

Golden State rolled out the red — or, violet — carpet for the big news, with a VIP guest list for a press conference on the floor of the gleaming new arena that featured House Speaker emeritus Nancy Pelosi and league commissioner Cathy Engelbert, and it almost felt like deja vu.

Just a few years earlier, NBA commissioner Adam Silver was on hand for an almost identical press conference in the same setting to award the 2025 All-Star Game to San Francisco.

“We’re a city on the rise,” San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said on stage Tuesday. “And the confidence of the WNBA and their commissioner allowing us to host their marquee event is something that we’re going to be ready for.”

It would be hard to find a city in the country with as much practice playing host to marquee events in the post-pandemic world than the 49-square mile patch of pristine land that Lurie has managed since the heir to the Levi’s fortune won election in 2024.

It’s a remarkable feat considering where we were just a few years ago.

San Francisco was so down on its luck in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic that the Giants had a hard time convincing free agents to sign with them. Visiting team buses would pass vacant storefronts and sidewalks strewn with drug users on their way to the ballpark.

It was a different story for the tens of thousands who visited this past February for Super Bowl 60. San Francisco hosted almost everything but the game itself and earned rave reviews from guests, who came expecting an apocalyptic hellscape and were met with a thriving metropolis.

Sport has played no small part in the city’s turnaround.

The region’s calendar since the start of 2025 is basically a laundry list of sports’ biggest events:

• NBA All-Star weekend (Chase Center, Feb. 2025)
• NCAA men’s basketball regional final (Chase Center, March 2025)
• Laver Cup tennis champions tournament (Chase Center, Sept. 2025)
• Super Bowl 60 (Levi’s Stadium, Feb. 2026)
• NFL Pro Bowl (Moscone Center, Feb. 2026)
• World Cup soccer qualifying + Round of 32 matches (Levi’s Stadium, June 2026)
• WNBA All-Star weekend (Chase Center, July 2027)
• SailGP international sailing competition (San Francisco Bay, April 2028)
• PGA Tour golf championship (Olympic Club, May 2028)
• MLB All-Star Game (Oracle Park, July 2028)

San Francisco has always been a city of booms and busts. The sports world gives us one lens to judge where we are in the cycle. These events are highly sought after, and a host city has to prove it can provide the appropriate stage for any given sport’s biggest spectacle.

What these leagues are telling us over and over again: San Francisco’s back.

If the 2010s were defined by the championship dynasties of the Giants and Warriors, then the identity of the 2020s will be the global showcases that reminded us San Francisco is a world-class city.

Credit, in no small part, goes to the Bay Area Host Committee, formed in 2022 and headed by impressive CEO Zaileen Janmohamed. She made the presentation to NFL owners back in 2023 that convinced them the Bay Area was the one region that could handle the Super Bowl and World Cup just four months apart.

Lurie led a temporary iteration of the host committee the last time the region hosted a Super Bowl and is an avowed sports fan, so it’s no surprise he’s made them central to his recovery plan for the city. The mayor revealed he took a hands-on role in getting the MLB All-Star Game.

San Francisco, which last hosted the game in 2007, was believed to be contingent on MLB players getting permission to play in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Lurie was in communication with commissioner Rob Manfred, who didn’t wait for an Olympics resolution.

“As I shared with Commissioner Manfred two weeks ago, we’ve made public safety our top priority since day one, and we’re delivering safe and clean streets for residents and visitors,” Lurie said in a statement. “San Franciscans feel like our city is moving in the right direction, and people want to be here again.

“These major events bring visitors, support our local restaurants and bars, and continue to drive our recovery. And we’re going to keep our foot on the accelerator, so every family feels the benefit of that comeback.”