Two years ago, Major League Baseball opted to move the All-Star Game from Atlanta to Colorado in response to Georgia’s voter laws.
But hours before the 2023 midsummer classic, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said Atlanta is “in the mix” to host the game two years from now.
Manfred was “not prepared to go past that right now,” but said Wrigley Field in Chicago and Fenway Park in Boston are also candidates.
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A general view of Truist Park during the National Anthem before a game between the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals on July 4, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Brett Davis/Getty Images)
Manfred said back in 2021 that Atlanta would “certainly be an option at some point in the future,” but not unless change “I would need to see” was made, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
However, no laws have changed since they were implemented.
The law places new restrictions on voting by mail, adds voter ID requirements and limits ballot drop boxes. It also mandates two Saturdays of early voting ahead of general elections, an increase from just one, and leaves two Sundays as optional. The law also bans outside groups from handing out food or water to those waiting in line to vote.
Manfred’s decision to move the game out of Atlanta in 2021 came via pressure from Stacey Abrams, sources told Fox News Digital at the time.
Abrams told a senior league official that she wanted him to denounce the Georgia voting rights law, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. People associated with Rev. Al Sharpton’s civil rights organization, and LeBron James’s voting right group, “More than a Vote” also pressured league officials, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.
View from the outside of Truist Park during the National League Wild Card Series game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Atlanta Braves on Oct. 1, 2020 at Truist Park in Atlanta, GA. (Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
After these conversations, Manfred believed the All-Star Game would be turned into a political event and players would boycott the game, those people said. Sources said at the time that Abrams’ current stance, that she is disappointed about the Georgia boycott, is suspect because she was among the most prominent political operatives to pressure the league to denounce the new law.
Manfred said the decision was made after discussions with the MLB Players Association and its Players Alliance.
The league said Georgia’s law “opposes restrictions to the ballot box.” President Biden called the law “Jim Crow on steroids.”
Baseball: World Series: Atlanta Braves fans in stands doing Tomahawk chop during game vs Houston Astros at Truist Park. Game 5. Atlanta, GA 10/31/2021 (Simon Bruty/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
However, Georgia’s voters set the record for most ballots cast before Election Day in a midterm election, according to state election officials, debunking claims from top Democrats that the state’s election law would lead to voter suppression.
When combing Early Voting and absentee ballots, Georgia exceeded 2.5 million votes cast before Election Day
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Texas’ Globe Life Field will host next year, while the game will be at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia in 2026. Atlanta hosted the game in 1972 and 2000.
MLB did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding what changes Manfred saw to consider Atlanta as a host city again.
Fox News’ Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report.
