When I saw this, I didn’t really care. First off, I rarely glue myself to the TV for the pre-All Star Game activites, so I don’t always catch this. Second, it will be interesting seeing some of the newer participants to the game take part in that. I also heard a rumor that Ichiro might participate, which would make things very interesting.
I still don’t feel they’re doing the All Star Game any good by giving the winning league home field advantage in the World Series. Fox’s commericials stating “This Time it Matters” are pretty silly when you consider only 2 or 3 of the participants (if that many) will even be playing in the World Series.
As far as a solution to the waning interest, I have none. I still watch the game (although I rarely stay up for the whole thing), but even for me it doesn’t have the same appeal now that I can see most teams play on TV, and I can go to Comerica Park to see a few NL teams play there every year. I think getting rid of interleague play would be a good start.