(Headline USA) Major League Baseball plans to relocate the All-Star Game to Coors Field in Denver after pulling this year’s Midsummer Classic from Atlanta over objections to election integrity changes to Georgia’s voting laws, according to a person familiar with the decision.
The person spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity Monday night because MLB hadn’t announced the move yet.
The commissioner’s office was expected to declare Tuesday that the Colorado Rockies will host the game.
ESPN was first to report the decision.
MLB pulled the July 13 game from Truist Park in Atlanta in response to Georgia voting rules that Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law March 25.
Critics, including the CEOs of Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola, without evidence have condemned the changes as being too “restrictive.”
The Georgia law includes requirements for identification in absentee voting, which now does not require an excuse for doing so.
IDs are free and easily available in Georgia, but that doesn’t stop progressives from calling the requirement “racist.”
Early and weekend voting hours have been expanded in the state as well, making many of its aspects far less stringent than other states, including Colorado.
Colorado has voter ID to vote in person, requires signature verification for mail-in ballots (unlike Georgia, which requires last four of Social Security number or driver’s license number), and a similar ban on food and water being given away by electioneers that Georgia has.
Colorado has a Democratic governor in Jared Polis and a Democratic-controlled legislature.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred made the decision to move the All-Star events and the amateur draft from Atlanta after discussions with individual players and the Players Alliance, an organization of black players formed after the death of George Floyd last year, the commissioner said in a statement.
Kemp has defended the measure, and other Republicans have criticized MLB’s move.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott backed out of throwing the first pitch at the Texas Rangers’ home opener Monday and said the state would not seek to host the All-Star Game or any other special MLB events.
Coors Field last hosted the All-Star Game in 1998, the fourth season for the stadium and sixth for the Rockies franchise.
Adapted from reporting by Associated Press.
