Braves to host 2025 All-Star Game, 2 years after MLB moved event due to Georgia voting law
The Major League Baseball All-Star Game will be returning to Atlanta in 2025 at Truist Park, commissioner Rob Manfred announced Thursday.
The Braves will be hosting the event for the first time since 2000, when the American League topped the National League, 6-3, with Chipper Jones hitting a home run and Derek Jeter winning MVP honors.
MLB had originally awarded the Braves the 2021 All-Star Game but moved the event, plus that season's draft, to Denver three months before it was to take place because of a Georgia voting law. Manfred said in a statement at the time that "the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport is by relocating this year's All-Star Game and MLB draft."
The law that came under fire was the Election Integrity Act of 2021, which requires an ID number, like a driver’s license, to apply for an absentee ballot and cuts off absentee ballot applications 11 days before an election. It also limits the number of absentee ballot drop boxes; allows the state to take control of what it calls 'underperforming' local election systems; and disallows volunteers from giving away food and drink to voters waiting in lines.
The ban on giving away food and drink was partially struck down by a federal judge in August, but much of the rest of the law was upheld - at least for next year - by the same judge last month.
The Braves responded with a statement, saying they were "deeply disappointed" about the decision to move the game as they hoped to use the event "as a platform to enhance the discussion." The team added it supported equal voting rights for all.
The Players Alliance, a group made up of over 150 current and former Black baseball players, supported the league's decision to move the game. The group vowed to keep fighting for racial equality, saying, "We will not be silenced. We won't back down in the fight for racial equality. We will never stop breaking barriers to the ballot box."
When speaking about moving the 2021 All-Star Game, Manfred said Thursday: "I made the decision in 2021 to move the event, and I understand that — believe me — people had then and probably still have different views as to the merits of that decision."
The 2024 MLB All-Star Game will take place at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, while the Philadelphia Phillies will host the 2026 event at Citizens Bank Park in honor of the 250th anniversary of American independence.
