Justin Bullock, FISM News
Major League Baseball (MLB) is being sued by a number of small businesses in Atlanta, Georgia after the MLB decided to move their All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver, Colorado. The group of small businesses is being represented by the Job Creators Network (JCN). The MLB originally moved the All-Star Game in April in protest of an election reform law passed by the Georgia state government which is very similar to the law currently being debated in Texas as was reported by FISM News.
JCN’s lawsuit was filed in New York and is 21 pages and claims $100 million in damages to a number of small businesses in and around the Atlanta area as well as an additional $1 billion in punitive damages. If the suit is successful then the MLB will have to either move the All-Star Game back to Atlanta or be forced to pay damages in the amount awarded by the presiding judge. It is not expected that the lawsuit will reach any sort of conclusion before the All-Star Game is set to be played in Denver on July 13, 2021. It is also likely that if JCN is successful, the MLB will appeal the decision as far as they are able.
JCN and the businesses in and around Atlanta have criticized the MLB for losing focus on sports and becoming involved in politics. The MLB is not alone in protesting Georgia’s new election law. Many other national organizations and popular figures have also adopted some sort of protest or boycott toward Georgia in an apparent attempt to pander to the left. JCN believes the actions of the MLB are unlawful and hypocritical. JCN’s CEO and president, Alfredo Ortiz, said in a statement,
MLB robbed the small businesses of Atlanta – many of them minority-owned – of $100 million, we want the game back where it belongs… This was a knee-jerk, hypocritical and illegal reaction to misinformation about 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… 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… 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.