The decision by Major League Baseball to move its All-Star Game from Atlanta will cost jobs, the White House acknowledged.
“There is undoubtedly going to be a cost,” Cecilia Rouse, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, said when asked about a hypothetical popcorn stand worker who found out he won’t be hired to work the July game because of the move. “I think that was the point that Major League Baseball was trying to make. Major League Baseball will, however, move its game, and workers and another place will benefit.”
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced Friday that the league was taking both its All-Star game and draft from Georgia in response to an election reform law passed by state lawmakers and signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp. “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,” he said.
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The decision is being mocked because Major League Baseball recently signed a multi-billion dollar deal with Communist China. China, of course, has never held free elections and currently has concentration camps set up for its minority population.
President Joe Biden had said before the decision he would support MLB shifting the game as he offered statements about the law that weren’t accurate.
“The president opposes these laws,” Rouse said. “He believes that they are restrictive, they are discriminatory. These businesses, these companies have the opportunity to vote with their feet and they’re using their economic power to just express their dissatisfaction. They are exercising their right to vote with their feet. It’s a little early to judge what the economic impact will be, but they have a right to vote with their feet and to express their dissatisfaction with the laws.”
Cobb County’s travel department estimated that the county will lose $100 million in revenue.
“This event would have directly impacted our county and the state, as visitors spend their dollars on local accommodations, transportation, entertainment and recreation, food and retail throughout the county,” the department told WSB-TV. “This would have been a big boost to Cobb businesses and help with recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Kemp referenced the economic hit during a press conference over the weekend.
“In the middle of a pandemic, Major League Baseball put the wishes of Stacey Abrams and Joe Biden ahead of the economic well-being of hard working Georgians who were counting on the All-Star game for a paycheck,” he said. “Georgians and all Americans should know what this decision means. It means canceled culture and partisan activists are coming for your business.
“They’re coming for your game or event in your hometown. They’re coming to cancel everything from sports to how you make a living. They will stop at nothing to silence all of us. They don’t care about jobs, they don’t care about our communities and they certainly don’t care about access to the ballot box.”
It was announced Tuesday that the games will be played in Colorado, which has the same or similar laws to those just passed in Georgia.
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice
