Falcons looking for new stadium (Atlanta, Pitts: section 8, apartments, neighborhoods)

[MathmanMathman]

Originally Posted by Caltovegas

They want to host a Super Bowl... Where the stadium is now is a great location.. The Falcons can't compete with GA and GA tech not to mention high school football for fans

If anything, the Falcons probably killed Ga Tech's fanbase. Ga Tech has about half of Georgia's seating capacity and often doesn't sell out. High School football is popular but I don't think it affect the Falcons.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by Caleb Longstreet

I understand the conference dilemma the marketing folks face. Las Vegas, Orlando and other high-density hotel markets don more than their fair share if you will, of convention business. The expansion referred to by annexing the 20 year old dome is an idea of how to compete with that market. 20 years ago I believe Atlanta was in the top 4 for conventions.....now? Maybe not so much.....the GWCC does a pretty good job of hosting every business' kick-off, display and trade show but, it does have it's limits. If you have ever witnessed the shows held in Vegas you know what I mean. Regardless, we can't all, nor want to be, like Vegas. Besides, we can't get a casino so, the draw would be a bit more difficult. The property in question (Falcon Dome) is arguably the most logical one to go if they absolutely have to expand the GWCC facility....I get that but, I'm not so sure that this will change the attendance and interest. You would probably have to build up some Hotels around the area and not just downtown.

The 17th street causeway business mix might have played a bit better down here or, bulldoze those tepid buildings on Marietta West of the Dome and the bang bang shoot em up alley just South and yeah, you might make that work.....might....

As far as moving the Falcons? Take a cue from Wayne Hiezenga when he moved the Dolphins to Sunrise. It's the equivalent of moving the Falcons to East Cobb or South Forsyth.....ever since he made that move his attendance has been PACKED....he moved the venue to the customer....not expect the customer to move to the venue....novel idea.....most people are pretty much spent after working 5 days in this town....people just don't want the friggin' hassle of going downtown, fight the parking and then fight the journey home afterwards. No, I think the audience that is willing AND able to pay the ransom now known as a ticket tends to live OUTSIDE of the city and therefore is having less and less of an interest in making the voyage to see a game.

This, coupled with cable access and internet access to games is making it even more competitive for their dollar. While it's true that there is no substitute for a game live in a dome, the spectators are finding it increasingly difficult to make that effort. Of course, that debacle in front of Green Bay didn't help matters but, perhaps we can finally focus on that secondary a bit more....but I digress....

As the ticket prices continue to climb in the wake of the average joe's ability to keep pace with said climb, you are going to have to offer just a little more than a nice stadium, surrounded by a ghetto, with horrendous traffic and mediocre restaurants and side entertainment to continue to command that ransom me thinks....might explain the OVERWHELMING positive response for folks wanting to see the Gwinnett Braves over the Atlanta Braves? Same reason...they can afford it, it's close, and the venue is rather nice and easy to experience.

Something for the marketing folks to consider. You know, you REALLY don't HAVE to have a stadium IN town to make it successful. Just ask Wayne and the folks of Broward County. Attendance has never been higher, the patrons more satisified.....go figure....

You are missing the point and misreading the situation.

Atlanta is a major convention center with the 4th largest convention space and equivalent traffic.

The Georgia Dome IS and has been for a long time apart of the GWCC. It IS used as convention space and shows far beyond that of the Falcons. However, it is for these reasons the space can't be exactly how the Falcons would like it.

And when talking about conventions people need to get past the Las Vegas comparisons. The nightlife does attract people and it is a good location for a majority west coast business base. The first importance in conventions above all others is Location Location Location. We are centrally located between the texas triangle, midwest, northeast, and south Florida with cheap flight access. We in no way need to be directly like Las Vegas to attract a strong convention base, but increased attractions in our own way will help the city benefit more from convention traffic.



Mathman- Interesting comment about GT. I think the problem GT has is two fold... 1) keeping in mind most of the fanfare at the actual games are alumni UGA has more students and alot more alumni, which alone greatly increases demand for seats at games. To make matters worse for GT... They have/had more out of state students, which means their Atlanta alumni base might be smaller (does anyone have specific stats. on how many alumni ended up in the Atlanta/N. Georgia area?)
2) In Atlanta's suburbs and in rural N. Georgia UGA seems to be more popular. In the event there are tickets left over from alumni sells they are quickly bought up by non-alumni. (or street price demand keeps up for some alumni to buy season tickets and sell them when they aren't needed). GT students... deep down know it is true as well, given they make our less educated fans the butt of many UGA jokes.

I can't imagine that the Falcons would be out-competing GT for their own alumni at least.

[DTL3000]

Hey Falcons.

I hear L.A. is interested in a football team.

[Metro Stats]

Givem a contract win the Super Bowl get a stadium

[testa50]

I'd be interested to know what Blank is getting at. Despite what he says, the franchise is profitable and very successful. Any talk of living Atlanta would be ludicrous, given how some of the other franchises are doing. Despite what people seem to think ITT, our attendance is fine--95% over the last year.

At the same time, many of the arguments for leaving the Dome seem weak. Parking revenue was brought up last time around, and I was quick to point out that stadiums can never break even on the pavement that fans' cars sit on, unless there are 81 games like in baseball (each parking spot costs $800-$1,000 to develop; 10-15 times that for a garage). "Tailgating atmosphere" is a hell of a reason to invest a billion dollars. And from what I've read, out luxury seating capacity is in line with the Colts' new stadium. I'm sorry, the fundamentals behind doing this just aren't there.

Is there any chance Blank is trying to work the city and GWCC up to the idea of investing a bomb in improving the existing Dome and the surrounding areas? A fraction of the sum being talked about is enough money to do some amazing things.

[Big L]

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

If anything, the Falcons probably killed Ga Tech's fanbase. Ga Tech has about half of Georgia's seating capacity and often doesn't sell out. High School football is popular but I don't think it affect the Falcons.

I don't think that the Falcons killed Tech's fanbase, but Falcons games tend to attract a different overall clientele than Tech games from my observation. Aside from that, I would venture to guess that most transplants would be more apt to buy Falcons tickets than Tech tickets even if they love college football. Even with the Green Bay debacle, the Falcons are still the hottest ticket in town these days.

I'm not a Tech fan, but I went to a Tech game last season just to see what it was like. I was literally the only person in my section that did not have on a Tech shirt (sue me, I didn't go to Tech) and the overall atmosphere didn't seem very inviting to someone who is not a student, alum, or a genuine fan of the team. I won't even get into how rude the little student workers were when I simply asked where Gate Whatever-Whatever was (Hell, everybody doesn't have the layout of Bobby Dodd Stadium memorized). The game itself wasn't bad, but it's not something that I plan to do again.

[brownhornet]

People have to understand the football atmosphere is pretty much always going to be different at schools like Tech, Vanderbilt, Duke, North Carolina, etc. The only exception to that rule as of lately has been Stanford. The admission requirements for players are higher and football will ALWAYS come second to academics. With that said the Falcons have probably some of the worst fans in the league but i've already pointed that out on this board before. Let them lose 2 or 3 games to start off the season next year and by the 4th youll be able to get Falcons tickets for the price of an extra value meal at McDonalds. Thats just the way it is here and always has been.

And I caught two games here last year and there is just no way in HELL the dome reached 95% capacity either time. Now if we're talking about tickets sold (which scalpers buy up a huge number) then thats one thing. As far as actual attendance, no way.

[testa50]

Originally Posted by brownhornet

People have to understand the football atmosphere is pretty much always going to be different at schools like Tech, Vanderbilt, Duke, North Carolina, etc. The only exception to that rule as of lately has been Stanford. The admission requirements for players are higher and football will ALWAYS come second to academics. With that said the Falcons have probably some of the worst fans in the league but i've already pointed that out on this board before. Let them lose 2 or 3 games to start off the season next year and by the 4th youll be able to get Falcons tickets for the price of an extra value meal at McDonalds. Thats just the way it is here and always has been.

And I caught two games here last year and there is just no way in HELL the dome reached 95% capacity either time. Now if we're talking about tickets sold (which scalpers buy up a huge number) then thats one thing. As far as actual attendance, no way.

Gate statistics are basically unavailable for every team in every sport. The only public statistics are ticket sales. So yeah, 95% is the absolute upper bound. Same for every other team in every other league's attendance stats.

[Metro Stats]

Falcons' push for open-air stadium gets lift *| ajc.com

[toll_booth]

Huh, weird location. I know they want to keep them downtown, but still. It's gonna be real interesting getting room for all the parking. I'm sure there may be more feasible options, such as one that is closer to an interstate and MARTA?

And let the debate begin, it's supposed to be an open-air stadium.