UPDATE: Former president Donald Trump has called for a boycott of Major League Baseball following the league’s decision to remove it’s 2021 All-Star Game from Atlanta over Georgia’s new election integrity law:
— RSBN ?? (@RSBNetwork) April 3, 2021
“Baseball is already losing tremendous numbers of fans, and now they leave Atlanta with their All-Star Game because they are afraid of the Radical Left Democrats who do not want voter I.D., which is desperately needed, to have anything to do with our elections. Boycott baseball and all of the woke companies that are interfering with Free and Fair Elections. Are you listening Coke, Delta, and all!” he said, referencing other companies that have criticized the new law.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Although Georgia‘s top anti-election-integrity activist, Stacey Abrams, expressly called on virtue-signaling leftist allies not to boycott the state, it didn’t stop Major League Baseball from pulling out of plans to let Atlanta host its 2021 all-star game this summer.
“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,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement, according to ESPN.
“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,” Manfred said.
The move followed Georgia’s passage of a new reform law that sought to close many of the loopholes in election administration that paved the way to widespread allegations of vote fraud in Atlanta and other blue areas of the state following recent elections.
Corporations based there, including Delta Airlines and Coca-Cola have likewise spoken out publicly while facing threats of activist boycotts and potential employee walk-outs.
But that has pitted them against GOP party leaders who have long been friendly to their businesses. On Thursday, the state legislature voted to eliminate Delta’s state tax breaks over its effort to undermine the state’s sovereignty in setting election rules.
The MLB, which recently commenced what it hopes will be a full season after the pandemic led last year to an abbreviated season, continues to face challenges in audience retention that its political activism will, no doubt, exacerbate.
The baseball league has, for the most part, avoided the pitfalls encountered by the National Football League and National Basketball Association.
Both the NFL and NBA saw significant audience drop-offs after indulging players who sought to promote radical activist messages on field during last year’s Black Lives Matter-associated race riots.
The decision to pull out of Atlanta likely will impact its plans to celebrate the life of one of baseball’s greatest black ball-players, former Atlanta Brave Hank Aaron, who died in January.
Georgia, which has seen considerable growth in recent years, becoming a popular destination for the movie industry and others due to its tax breaks, already has faced boycott threats over its right-to-life laws and other GOP-backed policies.
The population shifts, along with Abrams’s grassroots activism, helped to move the once solid-red Southern state into the “battleground” column.
However, conservatives objected to the wave of evidence showing suspicious activity and election irregularities that appeared to undermine those legitimate political gains.
