Budweiser has forced the White House to respond to a petition to make Major League Baseball’s Opening Day a federal holiday.
After an aggressive campaign featuring Ozzie Smith, former shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals, the beer company has reached the 100,000 threshold in order to get a response from the White House.
The Hill reports:
The federal government, along with many companies in the private sector, are closed on holidays. So such a rule would give baseball fans around the country a chance to attend their favorite team's first game of the season without having to skip work or cut class.
The petitioners may find at least one congressional supporter in Rep. Pete King [R., N.Y.]. The New York Mets and former Brooklyn Dodgers fan said he takes his son and nine-year-old grandson to at least one Mets game each season, but has never been to Opening Day. [...]
But critics say it would take the fun out of Opening Day. Political pundit George Will told The Hill that the event shouldn't be a federal holiday.
"Part of the fun of Opening Day is skipping work," Will said in an interview last month. "If they make it a national holiday, there will be no work to skip."
In less than a month, the petition already has 101,617 signatures. Budweiser says that Opening Day is not just about baseball, but a "symbol of rebirth," and a "state of mind where anything is possible."
"While the Obama administration will have to review the petition, most say it is a long shot that the president would adopt such a rule," the Hill said, unsurprising given the president’s lack of passion for the game.