Reactions around Atlanta on MLB stripping the city of The All-Star Game.
All around Atlanta on Friday there were many businesses who wanted to avoid stepping into the debate on the new voting law and Major League Baseball stripping the city of the July 13 All-Star Game. Even sports talk radio found the ground slippery. But the nighttime crowd at The Battery, which is the mixed-use development around the Atlanta Braves stadium, Truist Park, let it fly after sundown with thoughts on Commissioner Rob Manfred’s announcement earlier in the afternoon. What was striking is this was a younger, more diverse crowd than what would attend a Braves game, whose fans tend to be older, whiter. Still, there were baseball fans among the evening crowd and they had plenty to say about the controversial voting measures passed by the Georgia legislature on March 25. Of nine people interviewed, only one said Commissioner Rob Manfred made the wrong decision. It was not scientific polling, but it was telling. Baseball is finding some traction with a younger audience, especially when clubs devote millions to eclectic, more hip, and affordable shops and eateries around their stadium and make it an attraction. “I was kind of surprised,” said Keyan Shod, “because Baseball is usually the last to do anything (around a controversy). And I agreed with the decision.” A man walking his dog and wearing the cap of another National League team, also seemed genuinely surprised by Commissioner Rob Manfred’s decision earlier in the afternoon.
