A voters rights law in Georgia caused the pull out.
Ninety-two-year-old Bernie Marcus, who is a billionaire businessman and a major Republican Party money donor and a founder of the Job Creators Network, seems to be unhappy with Major League Baseball. At least the Job Creators Network is unhappy and that group is suing Major League Baseball for pulling its 2021 All-Star Game along with the industry’s player entry draft from Cobb County, Georgia because of Georgia’s new restrictive voter law. MLB labeled the suit as political theater. Politicians contend that Atlanta and Georgia will lose $100 million worth of economic activity. Marcus’ group wants $1.1 billion from MLB to cover the financial losses that will occur because MLB pulled the game out of Georgia. But where did the group get that number? Is there some proof that an All-Star event that lasts just three days generates that type of economic impact? The short answer, it is a number picked out of a hat. No one really knows just how much money is spent on an event like the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. The Job Creators Network in the suit claimed host cities in the past got anywhere from $37 million to $190 million of economic impact from the game.
MLB personnel come from out of town, the players, managers, coaches and staff on the Sunday night or Monday morning before the Tuesday game. Everyone leaves by Wednesday. The high rollers who go to big sports events will get into town on Monday and leave by Wednesday. If you dig deep into economic impact numbers, it is considerably less as non-local hotels, motels, restaurants and car rental agencies send the money from rate hikes because of the big event to some home office. The inflated numbers never add up. The Job Creators Network just might find that out.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
Braves home in Atlanta (AP/Photo)
