Atlanta was awarded Major League Baseball’s 2025 All-Star Game Thursday, two years after the game was pulled from Georgia during a flap over voting reform legislation state lawmakers had passed earlier that year.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred commended Atlanta Braves Chairman Terry McGuirk, President and CEO Derek Schiller, and the Atlanta Sports Council for leading the effort to bring the so-called Mid-Summer Classic to the Atlanta area for the third time.
“As a model of success on and off the field, the Braves deserve to host the All-Star Game,” Manfred said during a news conference. “Truist Park and The Battery Atlanta will provide fans a world-class experience in 2025. We look forward to working with the Braves and local leaders to deliver a memorable All-Star Week that brings people together and benefits the community in many ways.”
Atlanta was awarded the All-Star Game in 2021, only to have Major League Baseball pull the game and send it to Denver instead in response to a voting bill the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed along party lines that civil rights and voting rights groups viewed as voter suppression.
The law also drew criticism from corporate interests, including from Atlanta-based Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines.
Senate Bill 202 requires voters seeking to cast absentee ballots to show a photo ID, a provision that already applied to in-person voting. The law also limits the number of absentee ballot drop boxes and prohibits non-poll workers from handing out food and drinks within 150 feet of voters standing in line.
Two years later, the measure is still the subject of court challenges. This year, a federal judge upheld some provisions of the law while blocking others. The case is likely headed next to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
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