BREAKING: Atlanta will not host MLB All-Star Game
The move comes after the passage of Georgia's sweeping election restrictions bill
Atlanta will no longer host the 2021 Major League Baseball All-Star Game following the passage of a controversial election restrictions bill.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement of Friday that his organization supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box. “I have decided that the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport is by relocating this year’s All-Star Game and MLB Draft,” wrote Manfred. The new host city was not announced in the statement.
The game was set to be played in July at the Atlanta Braves’ Truist Park. Leaders in Cobb County, where the park is located, strongly advised against moving the game, because it would generate a lot of money for area businesses that have struggled over the last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cobb County Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid (D) even met with the MLB players association this week to express these concerns. “The boycott would have a detrimental effect here,” she told a local TV station. But she also said that she welcomed any input from the MLBPA on how to best move forward.
President Joe Biden even weighed in on the matter, endorsing the idea of moving the All-Star Game out of Georgia, a state that helped put him in the White House in last November’s presidential election. “I think today's professional athletes are acting incredibly responsibly,” the President said in an ESPN interview. “I would strongly support them doing that. People look to them. They're leaders.”