Tony Clark, the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) executive director, says that he wants the league to discuss pulling the All-Star Game from Georgia now that the state’s election integrity bill has become law.
The 91st MLB All-Star is scheduled for July 13 at SunTrust Park in Atlanta, Georgia. Though, with the new election law enacted, Clark thinks it is time to discuss possibly punishing the Peach State.
“Players are very much aware” of the Georgia voting bill, Clark told the Boston Globe. “As it relates to the All-Star Game, we have not had a conversation with the league on that issue – if there is an opportunity to, we would look forward to having that conversation.”
The new law was praised by Heritage Action Executive Director Jessica Anderson, who said, “Reforms to make voter ID requirements and early voting access more consistent statewide, modernize the state’s voting rolls, and ensure robust oversight of voting and elections will protect Georgia’s votes and make the state a model for the rest of the country.”
However, liberals have attacked the state’s new law aimed at tightening the overly loose rules governing state elections that sent the state into chaos during the 2020 elections. The left is riling supporters by mischaracterizing the law as “voter suppression” and even calling it “white supremacy.”
If Major League Baseball removes the All-Star Game from Georgia, it would not be the first time that a professional sports league punished a state for its politics. In 2017 the NBA pulled its All-Star Game from the state of North Carolina when that state passed a law preventing biological men from using female restrooms. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver demanded that the state reverse the law — which it did not do — and then moved the game to New Orleans when the state refused to comply.
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