Major League Baseball Sued For Atlanta All-Star Game Pullout

ATLANTA — A small business advocacy group is suing Major League Baseball for pulling the All-Star game from Atlanta amid the fallout over Georgia’s controversial new voting laws.

Texas-based Job Creators Network on Tuesday filed the lawsuit in a Federal court in New York against Major League Baseball, the Major League Baseball Players Association, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, and MLB Players Association Executive Director Tony Clark demanding $100 million in damages to local small businesses who looked to benefit from the All-Star Game being in Atlanta in July.

Many of the businesses, the suit says, were still recovering from revenue lost during the height of the COVID-19 lockdowns. Job Creators Network President and CEO Alfredo Ortiz said in lieu of paying damages, MLB should immediately move the All-Star Game back to Atlanta.

“MLB robbed the small businesses of Atlanta — many of them minority-owned — of $100 million,” Ortiz said in a statement. “This was a knee-jerk, hypocritical, and illegal reaction to misinformation to Georgia’s new voting law which includes Voter-ID. Major League Baseball itself requests ID at will-call ticket windows at Yankee Stadium in New York, Busch Stadium in St. Louis and at ballparks all across the country.”

MLB had yet to respond to the litigation as of Tuesday afternoon.

Gov. Brian Kemp signed the bill into law in March after GOP state legislators crafted new wide-ranging rules limiting absentee voting.

The backlash from liberal activists and Democrats was swift and was followed by criticism from members of Georgia’s business community, including Delta Airlines and Coca-Cola.

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.

Kemp, a Republican, blamed election advocate Stacy Abrams, his Democratic opponent in the 2018 race for governor, and President Joe Biden.

The game, originally scheduled to start July 13 at Truist Park just outside Atlanta, was relocated to Coors Field in Denver.

Ortiz on Tuesday pointed to how the move to Colorado impacted businesses in Georgia, giving a comprehensive rundown of revenue losses that included, but were not limited to more than 8,000 hotel cancellations, ticket sales and the accompanying concession and souvenir dollars from more than 41,000 fans, and a $2 million investment on the part of Cobb County officials who anticipated a hefty return on the millions of dollars spent.

“Small businesses in this community had valid contracts relating to the All-Star Game and other events, the result of two years of planning and all that was ripped away by fear and misinformation spewed by political activists. Many states, including Colorado where the game has been moved to, have similar or more restrictive election laws,” Ortiz said. “This move essentially tells fans of teams in many other cities that they can never again host the All-Star Game; it’s hypocritical, illegal and we won’t stand for it.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.