Coors Field in Colorado is expected to be the new site for the 2021 MLB All-Star Game, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney.
MLB decided to move the July 13 All-Star Game out of Atlanta amid a wave of corporate backlash to sweeping changes to Georgia voting laws that critics have condemned as being too restrictive.
“I have decided that the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport is by relocating this year’s All-Star Game and MLB draft,” Manfred said Friday. “Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box.”
Manfred’s decision was made after discussions with the Players Alliance, an organization of Black players formed after the death of George Floyd last year, and other individual players.
Georgia’s new voting laws, passed last week by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, impose a number of new restrictions, including more stringent requirements on ID, which disproportionately affect minority and low-income voters, and curtailing voting by mail. They also grant increased power to state officials over local elections.
The measures come after voters of colour helped power U.S. President Joe Biden and two Democratic senators to victory in the state.
With files from The Associated Press