• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, July 7, 2006

Despite a lingering steroids scandal shadowing Major League Baseball, advertisers don't appear to be shying away from the sport. Fox said Thursday that it has sold out next week's MLB All-Star game, with price increases over a year ago in the 5 to 9 percent range.

MLB corporate sponsors General Motors, Pepsi, Taco Bell, and Anheuser-Busch are back in the game, where they will be joined by new entrants Holiday Inn and Nestle. MLB corporate sponsors will take up 35 percent of the game's inventory, where spots sold in the $375,000 range.

"Advertiser demand for this year's All-Star Game paced well ahead of last year, and that enabled us to sell out almost two weeks before the game," said Jon Nesvig, President, Fox Broadcasting Company Sales. "We are also pleased to have a significant number of MLB's corporate partners in the game."

Exxon-Mobil, Flomax, and Johnson & Johnson also will have a significant presence in the game. Surprisingly, so will AOL, which is looking to drop its third-quarter ad buys.

Fox also said sales for regular-season Saturday-afternoon games are stronger than a year ago (with 95 percent of inventory sold), and sales for the post-season are on pace to eclipse 2005.

"In addition to the All-Star Game, we're seeing advertiser interest for baseball on multiple levels, including regular and post-season," Nesvig said. "With over 10 weeks left on the Fox Saturday Baseball schedule, we've only 5 percent of inventory left, and the early signs indicate that post-season sales should be strong, as well."