Padres preparing to host the 2016 All-Star Game

CINCINNATI -- There will come a point this weekend when Padres team president and CEO Mike Dee will put down his notepad, exhale and take in the sights and sounds of the events surrounding the 2015 All-Star Game presented by T-Mobile in Cincinnati.

When this happens, you can be sure the moment will be fleeting.

"I'm sure there will be moments of enjoying being there, but it is a working trip," Dee said earlier this week. "We'll be taking copious notes and pictures."

Dee, executive chairman Ron Fowler and Tom Seidler of the ownership group will head a group of 27 from the Padres who will arrive here in the Queen City sometime Saturday for four days of observation as San Diego prepares for the 2016 All-Star Game at Petco Park.

The All-Star Game at Petco Park is tentatively scheduled for July 12, 2016. It's the first time since 1992 that the Midsummer Classic will be in San Diego, and the first time it will be held at Petco Park. San Diego also hosted the All-Star Game in 1978.

Video: 2016 All-Star Game comes to San Diego

This will be a fact-finding mission of sorts, a time for the Padres' staff to see how the Reds go about hosting not only the All-Star Game on Tuesday at the Great American Ball Park, but also how they conduct the ancillary events that will comprise All-Star Week.

"[We hope to] gain insight and experience into the way Cincinnati hosts the event," Dee said. "But you have to keep in mind each community that hosts the game puts its own personality, own stamp on the game.

"The personality of the event will be interesting to observe, but won't necessarily serve as the template for what we'll do in San Diego."

Nor will it influence where they'll do them. Whereas the Reds have had to take into consideration the fickle musings of Mother Nature (rain is in the forecast, to some extent, the entire weekend), that won't be the case in sunny San Diego.

"There will probably be more a bias toward outdoor events, to take advantage of what makes San Diego unique," Dee said.

Video: Padres to host All-Star Game in 2016

The Padres will likely want to highlight and display to the baseball world elements that are already familiar to the local fans. 

"The military influence, you can expect that to have a major presence in the programming of the game," Dee said. "And our proximity to Mexico and the international border provides an opportunity for baseball to internationalize this game like no other.

"There are great opportunities here."

Eddie Quinn, a manager of partnership services, is taking a one-year sabbatical from his job to become the organization's designated All-Star Game coordinator.

Dee said the Padres' contingent in Cincinnati will be comprised of a wide range of departments -- ballpark operations, community relations and corporate sponsorships. Representatives from the business, legal, ticketing and marking sides will also be on hand.

"This will be a very good experience for us to see the core [All-Star] elements: FanFest, various hospitality events, the way that sponsors need to be taken care of, the flow of fans between the events. The logistics are important to observe," Dee said.

This won't be Dee's first trip this year to Cincinnati. He was there with a small group in April. At that point, the realization of the 2016 All-Star Game in San Diego started to feel a little more real.

"They were 90 or so days out, and seeing all the work that had been done -- work that needed to be done -- and watching their focus," Dee said. "The Reds have done an excellent job, especially integrating the community into the game. We aspire to do that, too.

"This is baseball's version of the Super Bowl. And with that, there's a tremendous amount of responsibility."