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I also love the fact that the "Front Door" of the GWCC is finally being expanded to Marietta Street, and will be integrated with the HOF. This is long overdue, imo. Downtown around the Park seems to be on fire!
It will 'cost' the other down town thing some of there attendance. There is only so much time/$'s , and people will pick do i do the HOF, or Coke? Aquairiim, Ripley's....
This does have the potential to be a really good thing.
For those who don't follow college football closely, an "arms race" of sorts between a few metros has begun, with different cities vying to hold more and bigger games. Basically, this is all brought on by CFB becoming a bigger and bigger money sport. Every major matchup has revenues far exceeding costs, which is causing teams to throw the old model of "half a dozen homes games and a bowl" out the window.
Conferences and teams are doing more and more of the following:
- Neutral field matchups during the regular season
- Conference championship games, which are only allowed if conferences have 12 teams (which is the root of all the conference expansion mania)
- Creating an absurd number of non-BCS bowls (fueled by the fact that teams can now have a 12-game season, meaning that getting to the requisite 6 wins for a bowl game is within reach of a ton more schools then it was during the 10- or 11-game season era)
All three of these give major cities an opportunity to host big time neutral field events, which are tourism bonanzas: most of them have somewhere between 50,000 to 100,000 people coming from outside the metro to see a game, which has a ton more impact than most pro-sports home games.
So how does Atlanta fit in to all of this?
Atlanta is probably the nation's premier college football city among those that don't host a BCS game. We have a BCS school (Georgia Tech), arguably the biggest kickoff game (the Chik Fil A kickoff classic), the far-and-away best of the conference champsionship games (the SEC Championship), and a upper-tier non-BCS bowl (the third highest payout in recent years, behind bowls in Tampa and Orlando, which also involve SEC teams).
Once you factor in the cities with BCS games (Phoenix, LA, New Orleans, and Miami), LA is the only city with a big argument to outdo us since they have two BCS schools and the most iconic BCS bowl of all--the Rose Bowl. Also, one year in four LA hosts the rotating BCS national championship game.
Dallas is the real up-and-comer and our biggest threat, with a more impressive stadium than the Georgia Dome and good access to some iconic programs (Oklahoma, Texas, Taxes A&M).
Dallas has its own neutral field matchup to start the season (the Cowboys Classic). It had a great 2009 game, but the 2010 opener between Oregon State and Texas Christian only filled the stadium 2/3 of the way (getting just under 50,000 fans). The Chick-Fil-A game did better (LSU/UNC), but this year trailed off to just below 70,000 fans.
But Dallas' kickoff game has some huge matchups coming up: LSU/Oregon and Michigan/Alabama in the next two years. Those will be huge. But the Chick-Fil-A kickoff seems to be taking it to the next level: they have scheduled two matchups for the same weekend in 2012 (Auburn/Clemson and Tennessee/NC State) and 2014 (Ole Miss/Bosie and another matchup, probably including Alabama). It's possible 11th hour deals are made for second 2011 and 2013 matchups. So in terms of kickoffs, Atlanta still gets the nod, but Dallas is at our heels.
Dallas is the neutral site of the Texas A&M/Arkansas rivaly, sort of like Jacksonville and the UGA/Florida rivalry. But nowhere near as nationally prominent.
Dallas is currently the site of the Big 12 championship game, but this is scheduled to be cancelled at the Big 12 has lost the required 12 teams. And, honestly, the SEC is a lot more prominent nationally than the Big 12, as we've sent a team to the national championship four times in a row now. So Atlanta wins in that category, pretty firmly. The main threat here is that if the SEC expands into Texas (by adding Texas A&M or Texas or even Oklahoma), there will be pressure to play the game in Dallas or rotate between the two cities. That would be very bad.
Of note is that two more conferences will be getting championships: the Pac-10 and the Big Ten. The Big Ten game will be in Indianapolis, but I don't think the Pac-10 has announced yet (it's still a couple years off I think). Charlotte is the site of the ACC Championship--it was just moved there from Tampa--but that game is a lot less important than the SEC Championship, and some years has only been like 25% full.
In terms of bowl games, I'm afraid Dallas has us beat: they have the Cotton Bowl--which is every bit as important as the Chik Fil A bowl--and two lesser bowls in addition.
There's also the possibility of the postseason shaking up in a tremendous way in the next few years, with the addition of a playoff. This means key matchups, more money, and more cities with the potential to host these games. Atlanta would be on the short list, and would be competing with other cities like Dallas and Indianapolis to host games.
So that's pretty much the situation. Teams and conferences are looking for the biggest stage possible upon whcih to showcase their teams, and make as much money in the process. Cities that invest in their infrastructure and sporting experience will tend to win out in the long run. That's why the CFBHOF is so important. If done well, it's a considerable fan bonus for people coming to the city, gives fans another reason to want to have their schools play in Atlanta, and boosts Atlanta's brand for attracting these huge matchups. And we're not just talking about getting teams like Alabama and Florida, that draw really well, to come play here. We also want fans of schools like Mississippi State and South Florida--which don't have huge followings--to feel like playing a game at the Dome is an accomplishment, a special moment in their program's history, and a reason to take a road trip and spend a few hundred dollars in our city.
That's why so much of the city's sports focus is on this building. It will keep us firmly ahead of Dallas, and has the potential to bring in hundreds of thousands of extra tourists into the city a year due to the city hosting bigger games, postseason games, successful teams that draw well, etc. College Football is big business for our city, and I fully support the leadership capitalizing on every opportunity it gets to stay in front.
It looks a little bit too much like the Aquarium for me personally and I just don't know if that type of modern architecture will age well. We'll see I guess.
As far as competing with other downtown attractions, I think it could be worked into the CityPass(I believe that's what it's called) deals along with the Aquarium, the High, and whatever else. Also, It wouldn't hurt my feelings if some of those 'competing' venues lowered admission prices due to the increased competition but I'm not holding my breath. All the attractions are so different that I don't see them adversely impacting each other all that much. If anything, visitors will spill over into the other attractions after being drawn to the city for one or two particular ones.
It will 'cost' the other down town thing some of there attendance. There is only so much time/$'s , and people will pick do i do the HOF, or Coke? Aquairiim, Ripley's....
So it's a bad thing if there's more to do downtown than can be fit into a day?
This does have the potential to be a really good thing.
For those who don't follow college football closely, an "arms race" of sorts between a few metros has begun, with different cities vying to hold more and bigger games. Basically, this is all brought on by CFB becoming a bigger and bigger money sport. Every major matchup has revenues far exceeding costs, which is causing teams to throw the old model of "half a dozen homes games and a bowl" out the window.
Conferences and teams are doing more and more of the following:
- Neutral field matchups during the regular season
- Conference championship games, which are only allowed if conferences have 12 teams (which is the root of all the conference expansion mania)
- Creating an absurd number of non-BCS bowls (fueled by the fact that teams can now have a 12-game season, meaning that getting to the requisite 6 wins for a bowl game is within reach of a ton more schools then it was during the 10- or 11-game season era)
All three of these give major cities an opportunity to host big time neutral field events, which are tourism bonanzas: most of them have somewhere between 50,000 to 100,000 people coming from outside the metro to see a game, which has a ton more impact than most pro-sports home games.
So how does Atlanta fit in to all of this?
Atlanta is probably the nation's premier college football city among those that don't host a BCS game. We have a BCS school (Georgia Tech), arguably the biggest kickoff game (the Chik Fil A kickoff classic), the far-and-away best of the conference champsionship games (the SEC Championship), and a upper-tier non-BCS bowl (the third highest payout in recent years, behind bowls in Tampa and Orlando, which also involve SEC teams).
Once you factor in the cities with BCS games (Phoenix, LA, New Orleans, and Miami), LA is the only city with a big argument to outdo us since they have two BCS schools and the most iconic BCS bowl of all--the Rose Bowl. Also, one year in four LA hosts the rotating BCS national championship game.
Dallas is the real up-and-comer and our biggest threat, with a more impressive stadium than the Georgia Dome and good access to some iconic programs (Oklahoma, Texas, Taxes A&M).
Dallas has its own neutral field matchup to start the season (the Cowboys Classic). It had a great 2009 game, but the 2010 opener between Oregon State and Texas Christian only filled the stadium 2/3 of the way (getting just under 50,000 fans). The Chick-Fil-A game did better (LSU/UNC), but this year trailed off to just below 70,000 fans.
But Dallas' kickoff game has some huge matchups coming up: LSU/Oregon and Michigan/Alabama in the next two years. Those will be huge. But the Chick-Fil-A kickoff seems to be taking it to the next level: they have scheduled two matchups for the same weekend in 2012 (Auburn/Clemson and Tennessee/NC State) and 2014 (Ole Miss/Bosie and another matchup, probably including Alabama). It's possible 11th hour deals are made for second 2011 and 2013 matchups. So in terms of kickoffs, Atlanta still gets the nod, but Dallas is at our heels.
Dallas is the neutral site of the Texas A&M/Arkansas rivaly, sort of like Jacksonville and the UGA/Florida rivalry. But nowhere near as nationally prominent.
Dallas is currently the site of the Big 12 championship game, but this is scheduled to be cancelled at the Big 12 has lost the required 12 teams. And, honestly, the SEC is a lot more prominent nationally than the Big 12, as we've sent a team to the national championship four times in a row now. So Atlanta wins in that category, pretty firmly. The main threat here is that if the SEC expands into Texas (by adding Texas A&M or Texas or even Oklahoma), there will be pressure to play the game in Dallas or rotate between the two cities. That would be very bad.
Of note is that two more conferences will be getting championships: the Pac-10 and the Big Ten. The Big Ten game will be in Indianapolis, but I don't think the Pac-10 has announced yet (it's still a couple years off I think). Charlotte is the site of the ACC Championship--it was just moved there from Tampa--but that game is a lot less important than the SEC Championship, and some years has only been like 25% full.
In terms of bowl games, I'm afraid Dallas has us beat: they have the Cotton Bowl--which is every bit as important as the Chik Fil A bowl--and two lesser bowls in addition.
There's also the possibility of the postseason shaking up in a tremendous way in the next few years, with the addition of a playoff. This means key matchups, more money, and more cities with the potential to host these games. Atlanta would be on the short list, and would be competing with other cities like Dallas and Indianapolis to host games.
So that's pretty much the situation. Teams and conferences are looking for the biggest stage possible upon whcih to showcase their teams, and make as much money in the process. Cities that invest in their infrastructure and sporting experience will tend to win out in the long run. That's why the CFBHOF is so important. If done well, it's a considerable fan bonus for people coming to the city, gives fans another reason to want to have their schools play in Atlanta, and boosts Atlanta's brand for attracting these huge matchups. And we're not just talking about getting teams like Alabama and Florida, that draw really well, to come play here. We also want fans of schools like Mississippi State and South Florida--which don't have huge followings--to feel like playing a game at the Dome is an accomplishment, a special moment in their program's history, and a reason to take a road trip and spend a few hundred dollars in our city.
That's why so much of the city's sports focus is on this building. It will keep us firmly ahead of Dallas, and has the potential to bring in hundreds of thousands of extra tourists into the city a year due to the city hosting bigger games, postseason games, successful teams that draw well, etc. College Football is big business for our city, and I fully support the leadership capitalizing on every opportunity it gets to stay in front.
testa50 as a Dallas native I have to agree with your assessment. But b/c of the Ga Dome's location in downtown surrounded by all the the present and future attractions Atlanta will always win IMO. While Cowboys Stadium is the most amazing sports stadium regardless of sport I have seen the only thing around it is The Texas Rangers ballpark,Six Flags and some middle of the pack restaurants and hotels. If Cowboys stadium was built in downtown Dallas or the vicinity, in essence next to the action, then it would be a completely different story. But the Dallas Mayor at the time (Laura Miller) didn't want the stadium and now it's all the way out in Arlington.(Think traveling from downtown to peachtree city) Granted if the economy didn't start to tank a few years ago a live/work/play district around the stadium similar to Victory Park (Welcome to VictoryPark.com > Home) in downtown Dallas had been planned. Also if ESPN didn't buy the rights to the BCS the Cotton Bowl would have been turned into a BCS game, but the Cotton Bowl officials didn't like the idea of not having it on a major network so they balked. Atlanta may not have a BCS bowl game or a fancy stadium but b/c of it's proximity to so many SEC/ACC schools and being the major city in the south it will always be the best city to hosts major college sporting events and the College Football HOF Council obviously took note. One more thing to add, Atlanta's just not resting on its laurels to attract major events, Stokan in the past and the new leadership of the Atlanta Sports Council have done and are doing a great job of maintaining annual events and adding new ones.
testa50 as a Dallas native I have to agree with your assessment. But b/c of the Ga Dome's location in downtown surrounded by all the the present and future attractions Atlanta will always win IMO. While Cowboys Stadium is the most amazing sports stadium regardless of sport I have seen the only thing around it is The Texas Rangers ballpark,Six Flags and some middle of the pack restaurants and hotels. If Cowboys stadium was built in downtown Dallas or the vicinity, in essence next to the action, then it would be a completely different story. But the Dallas Mayor at the time (Laura Miller) didn't want the stadium and now it's all the way out in Arlington.(Think traveling from downtown to peachtree city) Granted if the economy didn't start to tank a few years ago a live/work/play district around the stadium similar to Victory Park (Welcome to VictoryPark.com > Home) in downtown Dallas had been planned. Also if ESPN didn't buy the rights to the BCS the Cotton Bowl would have been turned into a BCS game, but the Cotton Bowl officials didn't like the idea of not having it on a major network so they balked. Atlanta may not have a BCS bowl game or a fancy stadium but b/c of it's proximity to so many SEC/ACC schools and being the major city in the south it will always be the best city to hosts major college sporting events and the College Football HOF Council obviously took note. One more thing to add, Atlanta's just not resting on its laurels to attract major events, Stokan in the past and the new leadership of the Atlanta Sports Council have done and are doing a great job of maintaining annual events and adding new ones.
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