MLB All-Star Week expected to bring in $50 million, but at what cost?

Major League Baseball's All-Star Week has arrived in Seattle.

The Seattle tourism advocacy group "Visit Seattle" expects sold out crowds at both the Home Run Derby on Monday and the All-Star Game on Tuesday. Plus, they're expecting more than 100,000 people to attend the other events. All-Star Week kicks off Friday, July 7 with the HBCU Swingman Classic.

All-Star Week is expected to be a home run for local businesses, with an estimated $50 million pumped into the economy.

RELATED: Downtown Seattle businesses prepare for MLB All-Star visitor surge

Deputy Mayor Greg Wong told KUOW's Angela King the games also come with additional benefits for the city.

"We also have direct investments that Major League Baseball and the Mariners are making in our community that will leave lasting impacts," he said. "Such as improving our Rainier Playfields in South Seattle and helping support youth baseball teams in the area."

Hosting All-Star Week will also cost the city money, though. Wong said the city hasn't yet determined what the final cost will be.

Some critics have pointed to a toll on the unhoused people in particular. They've accused Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell's administration of ramping up homeless encampment sweeps and RV removals, particularly in the SODO neighborhood. Harrell has pushed back.

Deputy Mayor Wong said the efforts to clean up neighborhoods like the Chinatown-International District, for example, have been a part of long-term efforts — not just part of preparations for All-Star Week.

"We don't actually, as a city, need a big event to clean up our neighborhoods that have really been impacted disproportionately over the past few years by the pandemic and some of the social unrest in our city," he said. "That's why we've actually been partnering for quite a long time, and separately from the All-Star Game, with communities like Chinatown-International District on identifying their priorities."

Part of that, Wong said, has been "addressing our unsheltered neighbors and prioritizing getting them into housing." The same applied to people living in RVs, he said.

"RVs, as many folks know in SODO, have been a long-standing issue," he explained. "And cleanup and removal of those sites have taken place routinely over the course of the past year."

One SODO RV encampment was cleared on Thursday — the eve of All-Star Week. Twelve RVs were reportedly relocated, and of the 24 people living in that area, seven accepted shelter referrals.

The city said that was part of ongoing cleanup efforts.