Gov. Kemp slams Biden call to move MLB All-Star game out of Georgia

FOX Business contributor Scott Martin and Axios markets editor Dion Rabouin weigh in on ‘FOX Business Tonight’

Major League Baseball should lose its decades-old antitrust exemption, two Republican U.S. senators said Friday night.

U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah both reacted after MLB announced it would be relocating this year's All-Star Game and 2021 draft from Georgia over its new voting law.

“Why does @MLB still have antitrust immunity?” Lee tweeted. “It’s time for the federal government to stop granting special privileges to specific, favored corporations—especially those that punish their political opponents.”

In his message, Lee retweeted a post by U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., who was vowing to take similar action in the U.S. House.

TRUMP CALLS FOR MLB BOYCOTT, WARNS 'WOKE' CORPORATIONS AFTER ALL-STAR GAME PULLOUT

Cruz then added that he and Lee would be working “hard to END MLB’s antitrust immunity.”

MLB’s antitrust exemption has been in place since a 1922 Supreme Court decision ruled that the league is a sport and not a business. The National Football League, National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League don’t have the same exemption.

REPUBLICANS SLAM MLB FOR PULLING ALL-STAR GAME FROM GEORGIA OVER VOTING LAW

The league made the decision to relocate the All-Star Game from the Atlanta area after pressure from those who say the voting law, meant to make elections more secure by requiring I.D. for mail-in voting among other changes, is actually meant to suppress the vote.

The game was to be played in July at Truist Park in Cobb County, Ga., just outside Atlanta, the home of the Atlanta Braves. No new location has been announced yet.

The new election law comes months after President Biden’s win over former President Trump in the state last November and a Democratic sweep in the state's U.S. Senate runoff elections in January.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement Friday, “Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box,” adding, ““I have decided that the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport is by relocating this year’s All-Star Game and MLB Draft.”

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Other Georgia-based companies like Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines have also criticized the law.

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