Estimating the Economic Impact of Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game Using High-Frequency Tourism Data

Despite claims, primarily from Republican lawmakers, that the removal of the 2021 Major League Baseball All-Star Game cost local businesses in the Atlanta area $100 million in damages, an examination of hotel occupancy during the 2014 All-Star Game in Minneapolis and the 2019 All-Star Game in Cleveland suggests that these events generated at most 10,000 additional room nights and $4.5 million in additional hotel revenues for the host cities. These figures suggest that the All-Star Game generates a total direct marginal increase in tourism spending of only $3.9 to $9.4 million. Claiming that Georgia lost $100 million from the removal of the game is pure fiction with no basis in economic data.