After weeks of controversy of Georgia’s new election law, Congressman Buddy Carter is taking matters into his own hands.
Congressman Carter, a Republican from Georgia’s 1st Congressional district, introduced legislation to allow localities to seek damages from Major League Baseball (MLB) for lost revenue due to MLB’s political decision to move the 2021 All-Star Game out of Georgia.
The “Community Protection in Sports Act” legislation targets the league for canceling or relocating the All-Star Game “for political reasons.”
“When Major League Baseball decided to move the All-Star Game out of Atlanta, they put appeasing the loudest voices on the Left over our state and hardworking Georgians,” said Carter. “Cobb County Travel and Tourism estimated the state could suffer an economic loss of over $100 million due to MLB’s spineless decision based on lies. Following a global pandemic, MLB decided to rip hundreds of millions of dollars away from Georgia after localities, hotels, restaurants, transportation companies and other small businesses who barely survived over the last year were already preparing for the game. My legislation provides localities with a legal recourse to recoup the lost costs for their communities.”
Specifically, the bill would make it unlawful for MLB to cancel or relocate a team competition event that is not a part of the regular season, unless it is because of a pandemic, a natural disaster, inclement weather, or disaster declared by the federal or state government.
Under the legislation, localities are given the private right of action to seek damages from the league for canceling or relocating the event. Localities would then be able to determine where to direct the recuperated costs, including grants to impacted small businesses.
