After moving the All-Star Game out of Atlanta, Georgia, to Denver, Colorado the Major League Baseball is now being sued for 1.1 billion dollars.
The lawsuit was filed on Monday in federal court in New York. The lawsuit contains 21-page by conservative small-business advocacy organization Job Creators Network, as they demand the immediate return of the game to Atlanta and $100 million in damages to local and state small businesses. The suit also seeks $1 billion in punitive damages.
Money lost because of the move, especially right after the pandemic, hurt small businesses in the area. Alfredo Ortiz, president and CEO of the Job Creators Network released a statement saying, “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.”
Major league Baseball powers that be made the ill-informed decision to move the game from Georgia to protest a voting integrity bill passed in the Georgia Legislature that includes voter-ID.
There hasn’t been a comment from the MLB commissioners or the Players Association.
PREVIOUS REPORT ON THE MLB MOVE AND THE LOSS TO GEORGIA BUSINESSES:
Cobb County in GA is predicted to lose over $100 million after the MLB pulls its All-Star Game and draft out of the state in protest of the new voter integrity law. What could have provided a much-needed economic boost to the county has been taken away due to the Democrat’s false narrative surrounding Georgia’s attempts at increasing election security.
The kind of revenue that the All-Star Game typically brings into the county would have been incredibly helpful in pulling businesses out of debt after COVID-19 damaged its economy. “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,” Cobb County’s travel and tourism department told WSB-TV Atlanta, “This would have been a big boost to Cobb businesses and help with recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The Atlanta Braves came out with a public statement saying they are “deeply disappointed by the decision of the Major League Baseball to move its’ 2021 All-Star Game”. The team also empathizes with the businesses that will suffer from this decision, addressing the businesses that are “the victims of this decision”.
The Braves statement regarding the moving of the MLB All-Star Game: pic.twitter.com/0Iapm3eIre
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 2, 2021
In a video from a Fox News segment, a small business owner from Georgia expresses the damage that this decision will have on her restaurant, saying: “We’re trying to build back from a pandemic… something like this is not good for business”.
The MLB chose to pull the All-Star Game in protest of Georgia’s new voting bill was passed. Although minor legislation to promote election security, the Left immediately created a storm of false claims and accusations surrounding the law. The opposition from the Left is based on claims that this law is unfair it will make voting harder. However, this is mostly the point of the bill: to tighten voting security so voter fraud is stopped.
Biden and his supporters have made accusations that this law was meant to suppress the vote of minorities and people living in poverty. Biden strongly criticized this new bill on Friday, saying “This is Jim Crow in the 21st Century. It must end. We have a moral and constitutional obligation to act. I once again urge Congress to pass the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to make it easier for all eligible Americans to access the ballot box and prevent attacks on the sacred right to vote”.
This comparison to Jim Crow laws is completely unfounded, as there are no similarities between the two. Jim Crow laws were intentionally designed to keep Black people from voting and participating in our democracy. They restricted the rights of Black citizens and forced them to live in segregated communities, promoting severe nationwide segregation.
Georgia’s voter integrity law, however, is focused on creating a more secure and truthful election that lessens the ease of voter fraud. One of the most significant features of this bill is the requirement to present a valid photo ID when returning and requesting a ballot. The deadline for applying for an absentee ballot will also be moved back so there are fewer late ballots rejected due to late arrival in the mail. Another key feature is that mail-in absentee ballots will require identification information such as a driver’s license/state ID number and the last four digits of one’s social security number. Additionally, the mail-in ballots will be printed on a special type of paper with the precinct name and ID at the top to make forgeries more difficult to come by.
It seems that one of the biggest points of contention surrounds the requirement to present a valid photo ID to vote. However, the MLB requires a photo ID just to pick up tickets to a game so it remains to be seen why their ticket sales need to be more secure than our country’s voting system.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp spoke out against these recent criticisms, clarifying the law’s purpose in a Fox News op-ed, “The Election Integrity Act makes it easy to vote by expanding access to the polls and harder to cheat by ensuring the security of the ballot box.”
In a recent video, Kemp defended his new law by saying, “This bill is creating more accessibility, and for us to continue to have better processes in the state that is secure for every vote no matter who you are.
And I don’t think we need to apologize one bit for that,” Kemp continues with this statement saying, “You now have a choice. You can bow down to this cancel culture because I’ll give you a warning – if you do, it’s never enough. It will never be enough.”
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp: “You now have a choice. You can bow down to this cancel culture, because I’ll give you a warning – if you do, it’s never enough. It will never be enough.” pic.twitter.com/rbM922lNyL
— The Hill (@thehill) April 5, 2021
Watch it here: Benny Johnson/Youtube
Sources: 100 Percent Fed Up, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Fox News
