Estimated Cost of MLB's Decision for Cobb County

On April 3, 2021, Major League Baseball announced that it was moving the All-State game out of Atlanta in response to new voter suppression laws in Georgia. Immediately following this announcement, many baseballfans and Atlanta residents bemoaned MLB's decision for a variety or reasons, many pointing to the loss of significant economic impact for the city of Atlanta and Cobb County (where the stadium is located). Citing a Cobb County Travel and Tourism study, a local newspaper, the Marietta Daily Journal purported that the cost to the local economy for moving the All-Star game would be close to $100 million.

However, Baade and Matheson (2010) estimates that the value of the MLB All-Star game is close to zero.As they argue, "Cities would be wise to view with caution the All-Star Game economic impact estimates provided by MLB. Although MLB claims that the All-Star Game is an economic home run, our analyses suggest that MLB's economic impact estimates of the game are a wild pitch" (p. 322).

Using concepts drawn from this module of sport stadium subsidizes, and particularly on this lecture involving sport mega-events, what do you think the estimated cost of MLB's decision will be for Cobb County? Will the loss be close to $100 million? Or will it be closer to zero? Please use concepts and ideas from this course to explain your answer.