Major League Baseball announced Friday that it would move the All-Star Game out of Georgia due to the state’s restrictive new voting law. The game set to be played at Truist Park in July.
“I have decided that the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport is by relocating ” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box.”
A new host city will be announced soon, Manfred said.
The effort to relocate the All-Star Game out of Georgia had already been gathering steam, with President Joe Biden voicing his support for the move.
“Just as elections have consequences, so do the actions of those who are elected,” Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said in a statement after the MLB decision. “Unfortunately, the removal of the MLB All-Star game from Georgia is likely the first of many dominoes to fall until the unnecessary barriers put in place to restrict access to the ballot box are removed.”
Gov. Brian Kemp, who supported and signed the new voting law, said in a statement that Major League Baseball “caved to fear, political opportunism, and liberal lies.”
“Georgians – and all Americans – should fully understand what the MLB’s knee-jerk decision means: cancel culture and woke political activists are coming for every aspect of your life, sports included,” Kemp said. “If the left doesn’t agree with you, facts and the truth do not matter.
Kemp continued: “This attack on our state is the direct result of repeated lies from Joe Biden and Stacey Abrams about a bill that expands access to the ballot box and ensures the integrity of our elections. I will not back down. Georgians will not be bullied. We will continue to stand up for secure, accessible, fair elections. Earlier today, I spoke with the leadership of the Atlanta Braves who informed me they do not support the MLB’s decision.”
The MLB’s move is part of a growing corporate backlash against the voting law, with Coca-Cola, Delta, and Microsoft all coming out against it.