Major League Baseball (MLB) Commissioner Rob Manfred waded into the Georgia election law debate when he decided to move the 2021 All-Star Game (ASG) from Atlanta in protest over Georgia’s new election law. In a statement last Friday, Manfred said, “Over the last week, we have engaged in thoughtful conversations with Clubs, former and current players, the Players Association, and The Players Alliance, among others, to listen to their views,” Manfred added, “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.”
Perhaps Manfred, whose belief that Georgia’s new election law is too restrictive could have been influenced by all of the fake news surrounding the legislation, feels good about his decision. However, jobs expert Alfred Ortiz of the Jobs Creator Network is forecasting bad news for Cobb County businesses now that the All-Star Game won’t be played there. Keep in mind that the country is slowly moving out of the Covid-19 pandemic when thousands of small businesses disappeared during the shutdown last year. According to Ortiz, hosting the All-Star game could have potentially brought $100 million to small businesses in Cobb County, with many being owned and operated by minorities. Now, that revenue has vanished.
2019 US Census data shows that Atlanta is 51 percent Black and 40.9 percent White. Where did Manfred move the All-Star Game to, you might ask? Answer: Denver, where the 2019 Census shows residents are just 9.2 percent Black and 76 percent White. Next question: Who will be hardest hit financially with Manfred’s decision to move the ASG from Atlanta to Denver? Answer: Minorities!
Manfred should have taken a closer look at election laws in both Georgia and Colorado before he acquiesced to the woke gods. Both Georgia and Colorado require voter ID. The Georgia law provides for 17 days of in-person early voting, including two Sundays. Colorado law provides for 15 days, which do not include Sundays, of in-person early voting. So, what exactly is the statement Manfred thinks he’s making regarding voting rights?
This is just another example of a knee-jerk reaction to demonstrate wokeness, manipulated by corrupt media reporting with a complete disregard for the facts — has anyone complaining about the Georgia election law actually read the bill? Combine the reaction with added pressure, in the form of “support” by big corporations (Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, and Uber are all on board with MLB’s decision), and you’ve got the latest cancel culture victim – minority businesses in Georgia. Clearly, no American institution, including baseball’s All-Star Game, is safe from this cultural scourge.
Former President Trump is calling for a series of boycotts of organizations, including Major League Baseball, that interferes with “free and fair elections.” Fox News’ Tucker Carlson also used his platform to lament this era where big corporations are now calling the shots in our democracy. It is tough enough for MLB to recapture fans lost from last year’s shutdown and attempt to attract them this year with Covid-19 restrictions in place. Commissioner Manfred may have just done long-term irreparable harm to MLB attendance with his misplaced, shallow decision to insert our national pastime into the political arena.