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Scheduled to be held in Phoenix next year, the Major League Baseball All Star Game may become the latest victim of Arizona's new and controversial immigration law.
A New York congressman who called for the league to move the 2011 game from Phoenix is the latest person to push for an economic boycott against the state in protest of the new law, according to ABC News.
Since passage of the new law, companies have been cancelling conferences in Arizona while others have been asked to boycott those that do business in the state, including US Airways.
"I think that when people, states, localities make decisions this monumental, they should know the full consequence of that decision," Rep. José E. Serrano, D-N.Y., said.
Some of the top Major League Baseball players are of Latino decent (an estimated 40 percent in fact) and it will be interesting to see whether individuals would be willing to boycott the All Star Game on their own.
The 2009 game generated an estimated $60 million for St. Louis, according to the St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association. New York's economy generated an estimated $150 million the year before, according to New York City's Economic Development Corp.
In the past, Arizona had refused to recognize Martin Luther King's birthday, resulting in the NFL pulling its Super Bowl out of the state.
Arizona Senate Bill 1070 makes it a state misdemeanor crime for an alien to be in the United States without registration documents required by federal law, and requires police to make an attempt, when practicable, to determine a person's immigration status if there is reasonable suspicion that the person is an illegal alien. Police may, without a warrant, arrest a person if there is probable cause that the person is an alien not in possession of required registration documents.
Payton O'Brien, Gambling911.com Senior Editor
