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ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Braves announced Monday they will leave Turner Field and move into a 42,000-seat, $672 million stadium about 10 miles from downtown Atlanta in 2017. It's not clear how much the new ballpark will cost taxpayers.
Braves executives John Schuerholz, Mike Plant and Derek Schiller said the team decided not to seek another 20-year lease at Turner Field and began talks with the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority in July.
The Braves began playing at Turner Field in 1997, so after just 16 seasons it has become inadequate for their needs. They claim the reason is:
Quote:
"The reason for moving is simple," the team said. "The current location has certain issues that are insurmountable and will only become more problematic over the years. These fundamental issues involve how you, our fans, access Turner Field. There is a lack of consistent mass transportation, a lack of sufficient parking and a lack of direct access to interstates.
But.....
Quote:
The Braves did not explain how it will be easier to access a stadium that will located at the interchange for two of Atlanta's busiest interstates, I-75 and I-285, and has been plagued by major traffic problems for years -- despite I-75 being expanded as wide as seven lanes near the proposed site.
Also, the new stadium cannot be accessed by MARTA, the city's major rapid-transit system.
I was just reading about that. I grew up in the Atlanta area, and attended a bunch of Braves games, from the time they arrived in 1966 until I left the area after college in 1982. Having the stadium in the downtown area was always a nice central location for everyone in the Atlanta area.
I lived on the east side (I-285 & I-20), and it is a long haul to get up to the area (I used to work up there) they are planning to build the new stadium. Especially with the traffic as bad as it is these days. I don't know how the overall attendance will be affected, but I have to think it would limit the number of games that people from the south side of Atlanta, will attend. Anything that would require getting to the stadium during rush hour would certainly be a "no-go" for me.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it works out.
This is a complete abomination and the new ballpark had better be entirely privately funded. There are a few assorted teams I hold grudges against for various reasons and the Braves' ownership just made that coveted list.
This is a complete abomination and the new ballpark had better be entirely privately funded. There are a few assorted teams I hold grudges against for various reasons and the Braves' ownership just made that coveted list.
From what I read in the Atlanta Journal, Cobb County threw in a few hundred million in tax breaks.
A thought popped into my head and I looked up the data online. Fulton County is 48% white and 44 % black. Cobb County is 56% white and 29.6% black.
So I think they really are aiming this at their fans in that most baseball fans are white. Of course there is no way that they could come out and say this without generating an immense controversy, so they are saying that the move is because of "fans access" which actually is true, it just fails to identify the color of the fan whose access needs to be enhanced.
This is a terrible idea, but I am also against things like this that create sprawl. What exactly was wrong with the Turner field that a new stadium needs to be built?
No access to MARTA will put a whole lot of concession/stadium workers out of jobs.
By the time the new field opens, Turner Field will have been open for a whole 20 years. I'm not 100% sure on this, but I think the previous record holder for shortest use of a stadium by any major professional league was the Seattle Kingdome at 24 years.
Seems silly to me to build a new stadium that seemingly shuts out a lot of people who use mass transit while at the same time reducing seating capacity, but I'm not running the Braves. It would be like the Indians moving Progressive Field to Middleburg Heights or the Pirates moving PNC to Cranberry.
No access to MARTA will put a whole lot of concession/stadium workers out of jobs.
By the time the new field opens, Turner Field will have been open for a whole 20 years. I'm not 100% sure on this, but I think the previous record holder for shortest use of a stadium by any major professional league was the Seattle Kingdome at 24 years.
Seems silly to me to build a new stadium that seemingly shuts out a lot of people who use mass transit while at the same time reducing seating capacity, but I'm not running the Braves. It would be like the Indians moving Progressive Field to Middleburg Heights or the Pirates moving PNC to Cranberry.
It seems a lot of baseball stadiums are being built with reduced capacity to have more "sell outs."
As for the stadium being open for 20 years, you have to remember Turner Field was built for the Olympics and only leased to the Braves for the 20 year period. The organization has said that the stadium would require $150-$250 million in renovations, on top of having to be tied to a new lease.
It seems a lot of baseball stadiums are being built with reduced capacity to have more "sell outs."
As for the stadium being open for 20 years, you have to remember Turner Field was built for the Olympics and only leased to the Braves for the 20 year period. The organization has said that the stadium would require $150-$250 million in renovations, on top of having to be tied to a new lease.
The organization threw out a rather ridiculous renovation number. I don't buy that it needs a quarter-billion in renovations. Furthermore, how does any of that compare to the $672 million - $800 million it would cost to have a brand new stadium built? I'd simply call this wasteful except that roughly 80% of the proposed ballpark will be funded by the taxpayers which elevates it to something in the neighborhood of disgraceful.
Yes, but the Koch brother right wing types love this sort of welfare. Want some food for your kids? You're a leech and subhuman. A few hundred million for a new stadium? Hey, that's America baby!
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