Two years ago, Major League Baseball chose to move the All-Star Game from Atlanta to Colorado in response to Georgia’s election laws.
But hours before the 2023 Summer Classic, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said Atlanta is «in the mix» to host the game two years from now.
Manfred «wasn’t prepared to top that at this point,» but said Wrigley Field in Chicago and Fenway Park in Boston are also candidates.
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A general view of Truist Park during the National Anthem before a game between the Atlanta Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals on July 4, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Brett Davis/Getty Images)
Manfred said in 2021 that Atlanta would «certainly be an option at some point in the future,» but not unless a change was made that he «would need to see,» according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
However, no laws have changed since they were implemented.
The law places new restrictions on voting by mail, adds voter identification requirements and limits ballot drop boxes. It also mandates two early voting Saturdays before the general election, an increase of just one, and leaves two Sundays as optional. The law also prohibits outside groups from delivering food or water to those waiting in line to vote.
Manfred’s decision to pull the game out of Atlanta in 2021 was due to pressure from Stacey Abrams, sources told Fox News Digital at the time.
Abrams told a senior league official that she wanted him to denounce Georgia’s voting rights law, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. People associated with the Rev. Al Sharpton’s civil rights organization and LeBron James’ voting rights group «More than a Vote» also lobbied league officials, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.
An exterior view of Truist Park during the National League Wild Card Series game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Atlanta Braves on October 1, 2020 at Truist Park in Atlanta, GA. (Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
After these conversations, Manfred believed that the All-Star Game would become a political event and players would boycott the game, those people said. Sources said at the time that the current stance of Abrams, who is disappointed by the Georgia boycott, is suspect because he was among the most prominent political operatives to pressure the league to denounce the new law.
Manfred said the decision was made after discussions with the MLB Players Association and its Players Alliance.
The league said the Georgia law «opposes restrictions on the ballot box.» President Biden called the law «Jim Crow on steroids.»
Baseball: World Series: Atlanta Braves fans in bleachers doing Tomahawk chop during the game against the Houston Astros at Truist Park. Game 5. Atlanta, Georgia 10/31/2021 (Simon Bruty/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
However, georgia voters set the record for most votes cast before Election Day in a midterm election, according to state election officials, discrediting claims by top Democrats that the state’s election law would lead to voter suppression.
By combining early voting and absentee ballots, Georgia surpassed 2.5 million votes cast before Election Day
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Texas’ Globe Life Field will host next year, while the game will be at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia in 2026. Atlanta hosted the game in 1972 and 2000.
MLB did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the changes Manfred saw in considering Atlanta as a host city again.
Fox News’ Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report.