link</p> Phoenix will host the 2009 NBA All-Star Game. The official announcement that Phoenix has been awarded he 58th NBA All-Star Game, and all of its preceding festivities, will come at a Thursday breakfast news conference to be attended by NBA Commissioner David Stern. The breakfast will be attended by team sponsors, city officials and representatives from the Greater Phoenix Convention and Visitors Bureau. Fans can watch the announcement on suns.com. The Sunday game is among the tougher tickets in all of sports — putting most Arizona basketball fans among the 600 million worldwide television viewers. Valley fans are more likely to come away with a visit to the NBA All-Star Jam Session, an interactive family event that features dozens of games and displays as well as a court that is home to the Rookie Challenge game and an All-Star team's practice session. The Feb. 13-15, 2009, weekend also includes All-Star Saturday night, which features the skills, three-point shooting and slam dunk competitions. It will have a major economic impact on the area but hosting the game is not profitable for the Suns.</p> “The city really stepped up in a big way,” Welts said last week. “The city and the (Greater Phoenix) Convention and Visitors Bureau are the real heroes if this happens.” Thursday's news conference is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. and will include Stern, Suns Chairman Jerry Colangelo, Suns Vice Chairman Sam Garvin, Suns General Manager Steve Kerr and Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon. Phoenix also hosted the NBA All-Star Game in 1975 and 1995. This will be Stern's first appearance in the Valley since his controversial ruling to suspend Amaré Stoudemire and Boris Diaw for a game during a May playoff series that Phoenix lost to San Antonio. He canceled a scheduled trip to attend Game 5, the game Phoenix lost without its two key big men. This season's All-Star Game will be in New Orleans on Feb.17.</p>
