Braves Seeing Another Big Attendance Drop. (Atlanta, Acworth: transferring to, live in, zip code)

[Mattnatlanta]

So...will the Braves franchise drop the prefix Atlanta from their name? This should be a requirement from the city. Georgia Braves? Cobb County Braves? Personally, I'd like to see Turner Field preserved by the city in hopes of luring a MLB expansion team there. I will never attend another Braves game. Let their "fan base" fill the stadium.

[Mattnatlanta]

Originally Posted by Clayton white guy

I grew up a Braves fan, even in the lean times of the 80's. They, however, have told me (a southsider from Clayton County) that I was not their fan base. They have also abandoned the City of Atlanta. I personally don't care if I EVER go to another Braves game and DEFINITELY won't when they flee across the Chattahoochee to a place where I am unable to to sneak through southeast Atlanta neighborhoods home to avoid the ridiculous congestion on the interstate. Goodbye to "America's Team"!

^^^This^^^

[golden eagles fan]

Originally Posted by Mattnatlanta

So...will the Braves franchise drop the prefix Atlanta from their name? This should be a requirement from the city. Georgia Braves? Cobb County Braves? Personally, I'd like to see Turner Field preserved by the city in hopes of luring a MLB expansion team there. I will never attend another Braves game. Let their "fan base" fill the stadium.

There are a number of pro teams that don't play in their city limits: Detroit Pistons play in Auburn Hills, the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, the 49ers in Santa Clara (a suburb of San Jose), the Redskins in Maryland and the New York Jets and Giants in New Jersey. I'm not sure if governments have any say-so in a city or state name.

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by arc-lang

I don't agree. Atlanta fans are not fair weather, because if they were the Braves attendance would have skyrocketed when they were heading to another division title in 2013, but in actuality the attendance held flat over the previous seasons. Also look at the Falcons. Last two seasons have been two of the worse seasons on the books, but the attendance has remained near capacity. What the difference? Ownership! The Braves are owned by a faceless corporate institution, which cares nothing about the city. Heck they are based out of Colorado, so they don't even have a corporate base here. The Falcons are owned by a local Atlanta businessman who is very passionate about his team and wants to win a championship.

Go back and look at the Braves attendance when they were owned by Ted Turner. Those fans came out in droves and even weeknight games were rocking. Turner cared about the city and the fans were loyal. Now not so much.

Just look at the the two teams stadium deals. The Falcons were open and transparent and began the process of building a new stadium all the way back in 2011 giving fans plenty of time to understand what was going on and how much the taxpayers would have to pay. The Braves literally did their stadium deal and move out of downtown Atlanta in the dead of night. That pretty much sums up how different the two organizations are. Night and day difference.

The Hawks are the same way. Bad ownership that for the most part isn't local and doesn't give a darn about the city. Like I said Atlanta fans make you earn their loyalty. They don't just blindly give it.

Ok so that makes us crappy fans. Division leading and still don't show up. (And attendance was the highest since 2007, also higher than 2003-2004)

Braves attendance began declining back in the late 90s. Liberty didn't come in until 2007. With all those division titles, there was only one WS win which precedes the highest Turner Field attendance figures. Division win after division win meant nothing when they stalled year after year in the postseason and attendance dropped because of it. Attendance was steady from the end of Time Warner's reign to Liberty's. They came in droves in the 90s. Not in the 2000s even during the division title streak.

Yes the Falcons have been steady, but they also have an actual identity for the first time. How miserable has the franchise been in the past? Until Matt Ryan and Mike Smith, the team had never had back to back winning seasons! So yes two bad seasons, but they actually have a fan base now. Keep the losing up and the fans will leave.

The Hawks have been making the playoffs every year since 07-08 yet have always been in the bottom of league attendance except this year. Last season they had their worse season since 06-07 and guess what, it was their worst attendance since then as well. So yea of course attendance has skyrocketed since last season, it just took impressive win streaks and a league or conference leading record. And that still doesn't put the attendance figures in the top for the league. As soon as they start declining the fans will be out.

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by Mattnatlanta

So...will the Braves franchise drop the prefix Atlanta from their name? This should be a requirement from the city. Georgia Braves? Cobb County Braves? Personally, I'd like to see Turner Field preserved by the city in hopes of luring a MLB expansion team there. I will never attend another Braves game. Let their "fan base" fill the stadium.

The city doesn't own the franchise!
And the MLB wouldn't even think of putting a 2nd team in the Atlanta media market until it's the size of Chicago's maybe.


Tell the Cowboys who moved from Dallas County to Tarrant County to change their name. Sheesh.

Or the Giants and Jets to be the New Jersey Giants and Jets.

[AnsleyPark]

Good lord folks.

[JoeTarheel]

Originally Posted by Mattnatlanta

So...will the Braves franchise drop the prefix Atlanta from their name? This should be a requirement from the city. Georgia Braves? Cobb County Braves? Personally, I'd like to see Turner Field preserved by the city in hopes of luring a MLB expansion team there. I will never attend another Braves game. Let their "fan base" fill the stadium.

Why would they drop Atlanta from their name when they are still in Atlanta? That doesn't make any sense. There isn't a professional team that I know of anywhere that uses the name of the county.

I don't understand why this is such a problem for some people. I wanted the Braves to remain downtown, but I can see why they left for a better situation. The city had 50 years to develop the area around Fulton County Stadium/Turner Field, and it's hardly any better today than it was 50 years ago.

[Gulch]

At this point, IRDNGAF.

[arjay57]

The Braves/Cobb hatred blows my mind. Good grief, folks.

[Gulch]

Haters going to hate