Major League Baseball (MLB) commissioner Robert Manfred has decided to move the All-Star Game on his own after holding extensive talks with voting rights groups affiliated with Lebron James, Stacey Abrams and Rev. Al Sharpton, tells sources familiar with the move.
Abrams and Sharpton said the commissioner would not boycott players if the game. Sources say Abrams’ current position, that she is disappointed with the Georgia boycott, is suspicious because she was a key player in the decision. James publicly supported the Georgia boycott.
Abrams’ group and Sharpton also called on the commissioner to support other issues, including voters and HR 1, the For the People Act – comprehensive electoral reform recently passed by the House.
Manfred, according to a source, decided the easiest way to handle the matter was to leave Georgia.
After Manfred made the decision, he told the eight-member executive committee before making the announcement, which surprised the 22 other teams. Manfred said the decision was made after talks with the MLB Players Association and its Players Alliance.
GEORGIA VOTING ACT: READ COMPLETE TEXT
The match is now being held in Colorado.
“Disappointed @MLB will move the All-Star Game, but proud of their stance on voting rights. GA GOP traded economic opportunities for repression,” Abrams wrote on Twitter last week after the move was announced. “On behalf of PoC targeted by # SB202 to lose votes + now wages, I call on events and productions to come talk or stay and fight. #Gapol”
She later released another statement. “Like many Georgians, I am disappointed that the MLB is going to move its All-Star Game. However, I commend the players, owners and league commissioners that they have spoken out,” she wrote. “Like I said, I respect boycotts, although I do not want to see Georgia families injured by lost events and jobs. Georgians targeted by voter oppression will be harmed if opportunities go to other states.”
Abrams could not be immediately reached for comment on her involvement in the decision.
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Georgia lawmakers passed a 2021 Electoral Integrity Act in a party vote last month following a controversial 2020 election cycle. restrictions on non-voting workers providing food and drink to voters waiting in line at polling stations.
Republican supporters, including the government of Georgia, Brian Kemp, see the legislation as essential to ensuring the integrity of state elections.