An All-Star Business Decision

By now, I've sure you've all heard about MLB's decision to move this year's All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver in response to Georgia's controversial new election law.  I'm not gonna wade into the politics of it, but Baseball was really put into a no-win situation here.  Somebody was gonna be unhappy regardless, and the decision was gonna be criticized by that side as much as it was gonna be celebrated by the other.  The ultimate catch-22!

Once the bill was signed into law, there were also calls for the Masters to be moved out of Georgia, but that was never going to happen...for entirely different reasons!  Keeping the politics out of it, the logistics of relocating the Masters would've made it too difficult.  The tournament is taking place now, so they only would've had three weeks to find a new site, which is nowhere near enough time.  (Yes, last year's Masters was moved to November, but we all know the reason why, and, more importantly, the venue didn't change.)

While the likelihood of moving the Masters ranged somewhere between slim and "not gonna happen," the MLB All-Star Game is a much different story.  As soon as the law went into effect and the chatter about moving the game started, it felt inevitable.  It was no longer a question of if they would pull it.  It was a matter of when and where they would move it to.

Frankly, it probably wasn't that difficult a decision for MLB, either.  Again, they knew there would be plenty of people who disagreed with whatever they decided and that they were gonna get criticized no matter what.  But, when they weighed the two options, it was pretty clear which side they'd fall on.

Not to oversimplify it, but one side views the Georgia law as nothing more than a step to preserve election integrity.  The other views it as discriminatory.  Specifically, they see it as discriminatory towards minorities.  So, again, not to oversimplify, but it became a choice between supporting discrimination or taking a stand against it.  With the current political climate in this country, it's obvious which side of that debate would win out.  And because of that, MLB really had no other choice but to relocate the All-Star Game.

Had MLB decided NOT to move the game, the financial implications would've been massive.  Corporations have been extremely critical of the law, including some MLB partners.  They wouldn't want to give any indication that they condoned it, which is exactly what could've happened by associating themselves with an organization/event based in Georgia.  It's a very real possibility (likelihood?) that sponsors would've pulled out, leaving MLB scrambling to make up for that lost revenue.

So, can you say they caved to the pressure?  Sure, I can see that argument.  But it wouldn't be the first time that's happened, either.  That's why the Redskins became the Football Team last summer, and it's why the Indians will become the Cleveland Fill-In-the-Blanks next season.  The potential loss of corporate sponsorship dollars are very real and very legitimate reasons for making these tough decisions.

There's also the idea about what type of message they would've been sending.  Especially in a city like Atlanta, a predominantly Black city where civil rights pioneers Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis are revered.  The city where Hank Aaron became an icon.  How can you say you want to honor their legacies while at the same time holding your marquee event in a state that just passed a law many people view as a direct assault on those civil rights?  They're completely contradictory positions!

Let's not forget about another very important group whose opinion on this subject certainly matters, too--the players.  I'm sure MLB didn't make this move unilaterally.  They wouldn't have done it without Union input.  And, it's worth noting, that only 60 percent of MLB players are white.  What are you saying to that other 40 percent if you don't move the game?

I have no idea how those discussions went, but it's definitely plausible that the players might've threatened to boycott the All-Star Game if it wasn't moved out of Atlanta.  The players had to wrestle with many of these same issues, after all.  Some may agree with the law and/or would've had no issue playing in Atlanta.  But in the era of the athlete activist, there's just as many (if not more) who would've been vocal in their opposition.  And they're the ones whose voices would've been heard.

This isn't the first time an All-Star Game has been moved on short notice because of outside reasons, either.  That precedent was set way back in 1965, when the AFL All-Star Game was relocated from New Orleans to Houston because a number of Black players refused to play after they were refused service in New Orleans.  Then in 2017, the NBA All-Star Game was moved from Charlotte TO New Orleans after the passage of North Carolina's "bathroom bill."  So it has happened before.  Heck, the NFL even once pulled a Super Bowl from Phoenix because Arizona didn't recognize Martin Luther King Day!

It's obviously a tough blow for the Braves, who had nothing to do with any of this.  They were gonna get the chance to showcase their new ballpark and reap all the other benefits of hosting the All-Star Game.  All the time and money that has gone into the preparations is gone and they won't get it back.  Volunteers were already lined up for all the All-Star events.  Likewise, vendors and stadium workers will lose out on the extra income.  So will the hotels and restaurants.  (All of this, of course, assumes the state of the pandemic has improved by the summer.) 

They're all collateral damage in this, which is both unfair and unfortunate.  But if they're looking for someone to blame, they need to look beyond Major League Baseball and the MLBPA.  Because it's not MLB's fault the 2021 All-Star Game will no longer be played in Atlanta.  It's Governor Brian Kemp and the Georgia State Legislature's.

All MLB did was make a business decision.  They knew it wasn't going to be popular with everybody, but they also knew that it was a move that would have plenty of support, as well.  And, ultimately, they determined that the best business decision was to move their business from Atlanta to Denver.  So that's what they did.