Are there a lot of ATL Falcons fans in B'ham? (Birmingham: lease, how much)

[Newsboy]

ALSO: How much is the Crimson Tide Nation looking forward to inaugurating the new M-B Stadium in the fall?

[steveklein]

There are some. Most people around here don't really care about the NFL. At least not with passion. There is probably about an equal split of Titans fans (more in north AL), Saints (more in south AL), Falcons, and Panthers (Cam Newton) fans across the state.

Can't really say much about inaugurating the new stadium except that I am sure it will be very nice and it is a shame the taxpayers were fleeced on it.

[GreggT]

Originally Posted by steveklein

Can't really say much about inaugurating the new stadium except that I am sure it will be very nice and it is a shame the taxpayers were fleeced on it.

Can you explain this statement please!
80% of the cost of the stadium is covered by private funding, 20% from development taxes from visitors lodging taxes, and all cost over runs are being absorbed by Arthur Blank.
Maybe I misunderstood, which taxpayers were you speaking of as this is one of the few stadium deals that ARE NOT taxpayer funded.

[steveklein]

Originally Posted by GreggT

Can you explain this statement please!
80% of the cost of the stadium is covered by private funding, 20% from development taxes from visitors lodging taxes, and all cost over runs are being absorbed by Arthur Blank.
Maybe I misunderstood, which taxpayers were you speaking of as this is one of the few stadium deals that ARE NOT taxpayer funded.

You may be right, but how was the less-than-30-year-old Georgia Dome funded? But I will admit I may have confused the new Braves stadium with the new Falcons stadium. With that and the huge Philips renovation... it can be hard to keep track of Atlanta's entertainment venues.

[deb kerr]

Birmingham folks (most) have never supported sports teams of Atlanta which is right next door. There seems to be a lot of resentment maybe because they have pro, big league sports like NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB and major league soccer to boot. Atlanta sort of looms large and overshadows Birmingham in sport, business, travel etc., so maybe the local Birmingham population resists or withholds its own allegiance to the near neighbor to the east. You would think that it would be quite natural for Atlanta to have tons of Birmingham sports support, but it doesn't exist perhaps from a long history of early competition and resulting jealousy. That's my take.

[steveklein]

Originally Posted by deb kerr

Birmingham folks (most) have never supported sports teams of Atlanta which is right next door. There seems to be a lot of resentment maybe because they have pro, big league sports like NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB and major league soccer to boot. Atlanta sort of looms large and overshadows Birmingham in sport, business, travel etc., so maybe the local Birmingham population resists or withholds its own allegiance to the near neighbor to the east. You would think that it would be quite natural for Atlanta to have tons of Birmingham sports support, but it doesn't exist perhaps from a long history of early competition and resulting jealousy. That's my take.

I don't think jealousy really has anything to do with it. Alabama is just a college football state. It is so ingrained that it would make it even harder for pro franchises to do well here compared to a state/market with a similar population that was not so obsessed with some other "lesser" sport. Furthermore, Birmingham has more or less embraced the Braves.

There are a ton of Braves fans in Alabama because:
A) There are no other nearby MLB competitors (When you take into account Nashville, Memphis, and New Orleans... there are 2 additional NBA teams, 2 additional NFL teams... but no MLB teams.)
B) They had a somewhat recent run of relative success. Something like 10-15 straight division titles.

And maybe
C) Because there are 81 home games a year, it can be quite easy to make a couple of them over the course of a season. That is a lot different than 8 home games a year for the Falcons... especially when the same people that would likely attend Falcons games are in Tuscaloosa or Auburn for the weekend.

[Tourian]

Originally Posted by deb kerr

Birmingham folks (most) have never supported sports teams of Atlanta which is right next door. There seems to be a lot of resentment maybe because they have pro, big league sports like NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB and major league soccer to boot. Atlanta sort of looms large and overshadows Birmingham in sport, business, travel etc., so maybe the local Birmingham population resists or withholds its own allegiance to the near neighbor to the east. You would think that it would be quite natural for Atlanta to have tons of Birmingham sports support, but it doesn't exist perhaps from a long history of early competition and resulting jealousy. That's my take.

Maybe that's the story Atlanta parents use to tuck their kids in at night about the backward savages that live down 20 West in No Man's Land, but the reality is the Falcons aren't that big of a deal because the northern part of the state loves and wishes to be like and in Tennessee, so you tend to see more Titans fans up there. The southern part of the state has its own Gulf Coast culture and Cajun influence and tends to have more Saints fans. The middle of the state is wide open with locals and people from everywhere, so while there are Falcons fans you are just as likely to find a fan of any of the other NFL teams here as well. But, the Titans and Saints are just as popular here too.

Not too many care about soccer or hockey so Atlanta or otherwise doesn't matter. Seems like a lot of people like the Braves, but I don't follow baseball so I couldn't tell you if any other team has made inroads here for a fanbase. I don't think so.

Competition and jealousy between the cities has nothing to do with it. Cool story though.

[deb kerr]

If Birmingham, Alabama is such a cutting-edge, progressive and/or sports-minded big-league city, it's telling and a bit odd that it has no pro, NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL or pro soccer (believe it or not soccer is the number One spectator sport in the world and is boooooming in places like Seattle, Portland, and Orlando). Nashville is a bit analogous to Birmingham in lots of ways and it already has pro NFL and NHL (they do care about hockey in Nashville and even in Florida with 2 competitive franchises).


With Birmingham, where's the beef ? University of Alabama / Auburn University college ball ?? okay, that explains it I guess. I get it.

[Newsboy]

Originally Posted by steveklein

You may be right, but how was the less-than-30-year-old Georgia Dome funded? But I will admit I may have confused the new Braves stadium with the new Falcons stadium. With that and the huge Philips renovation... it can be hard to keep track of Atlanta's entertainment venues.

It is all a bit confusing. Yes, Sun-Trust Park (the new Braves Stadium) is being built on the backs of Cobb County taxpayers, the result of a back room secret deal that ended up getting the commission chairman Tim Lee booted from office. There's still a lot of anger in some quarters about the Braves' decision to leave the city, and it remains to be seen how many fans will migrate to the new suburban locale -- especially considering the team's lousy performance of late.

As for the Georgia Dome, it was paid for and built by the General Assembly and owned and managed by the state, thus the name. The new stadium has a state land lease and will be managed by the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, but for all intents and purposes it's owned by the Falcons and Blank who is footing most of the exorbitant cost.

BTW ... Turner Field has been bought by Georgia State University which plans to restore it to its original Olympic Stadium oval configuration and use it for football, etc. They also plan to build a baseball stadium on the old footprint of Atlanta Fulton County Stasium and restore Hank Aaron's homerrun wall. So it's a win-win for everybody.

[Blazin65]

Yes. Go Falcons. If the Falcons aren't in the Super Bowl I'm not watching. Sick of the other three.