New Braves Stadium

Say Hey Deac said:

The good news is that if they're opening a new ballpark in 2017, presumably they're going to want to do so with Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman in the lineup, who are free agents in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Maybe this leads to a payroll increase? Certainly if attendance rises or is expected to rise, you would expect to see that. Given the crappy TV deal, the Braves need good attendance.

Doesn't seem to be any info so far about public financing of the stadium...

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I see your logic, but then again, Marlins.

BeachBumDeac said:

Oh, well this is why. Map of 2012 Season Ticket Purchasers

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That's pretty telling. Can't argue with that

Marlins are still the Marlins though, same ownership, same city. Anybody could have seen that coming.

I think we'll keep at least one of them, probably Freddie. J Hey said some weird stuff during the LeBron decision that was suspect.

The City of Atlanta had 20 years to develop the Turner Field area and did nothing. If you're going to have a stadium an hour away from the people who can afford to go to games, it had better be a tourist destination.

What is this going to do to rush hour traffic in that area? I know there's not going to be any public transportation to the new site... are weekday games still going to be impossible to get to?

The Smynings Braves doesn't exactly have the same ring to it . . .

This is the suck for anyone that lives in town. Turner Field wasn't particularly convenient, but it was a hell of a lot more convenient than Cobb County.

Wakelaw2006 said:

The Smynings Braves doesn't exactly have the same ring to it . . .

This is the suck for anyone that lives in town. Turner Field wasn't particularly convenient, but it was a hell of a lot more convenient than Cobb County.

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Well, I'm sure people thought the same thing about Atlanta when the team moved from Minnesota.

Billy Mitchell said:

The City of Atlanta had 20 years to develop the Turner Field area and did nothing.

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A buddy of mine and I drove down to Game 1 of the 1999 NLCS from Wake. It was a prime time game, but we left Winston-Salem that morning and got to the stadium several hours before the game. Parked our car, and there was nowhere to go, as there was nothing around the stadium. We ended up walking over like a bridge or something and wound up somewhere in downtown that was not a desirable area. That was 14 years ago, but it doesn't sound like it's really improved since then.

The Galleria area was already a nightmare traffic situation during rush hour (4-7pm). Placing the Braves at the intersection of I-285 and I-75 is incomprehensible to me from a traffic perspective. Interesting that they are going to have 10,000 fewer seats at the new stadium. What does that suggest they plan to do with ticket prices? Parking probably will be better at the new location, but traffic in that area will be worse than downtown (heading downtown at least you were going against rush hour) and prices will probably be much higher. I am shocked by this decision. Maintaining a 20-year old ballpark shouldnt be that difficult (get some advice from the Cubbies and BoSox). Finally, dont talk about "fan experience" at the ballpark, unless you are focusing on upgrading the team itself. Fans, especially Atlanta fans, will not come out in droves unless the team is a contender (and even then it is tough to get them in the seats on a weeknight).

Um, "Unless the team is a contender?"...They just won the division!

How long was Turner Field slated to last in the Olympics bid?

GPDeac said:

Um, "Unless the team is a contender?"...They just won the division!

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Hard to respond because I am not sure what confused you. Atlanta fans dont come out to the ol' ballpark if the team is not in contention. I sat through many a ballgame in the 70's and 80's with consistently fewer than 10K in the stands. You could buy general admission, sit anywhere you wanted, and they were glad to have you. The division winners of recent memory still are not a tough ticket compared to many MLB locations and there are many empty seats during the week. The area around the stadium is not great, but season ticket holders tend to go for the games, not the "stadium experience" that those who only go a few times a year might desire. The point is, if the team does not win, Atlanta fans wont fill any stadium. The aforementioned Cubs fans are a pretty unique exception to that observation.

For those that arent familiar, Cumberland is basically an area that straddles 75/285 intersection, that is home to mostly new and high-end mid-rise office space. There is also some multifamily, and hotel space in the area that supports the office complexes, as well as a smaller convention center, a mid-level mall and a brand new opera house style theater.

This new proposed stadium is going to be like less than a mile from my office. Not sure how I feel about that. Traffic will certainly increase.

I am also not convinced that this is a real thing. Seems like it could very well be posturing for lease renegotiations, possibly a play to finally get a sMARTA stop that connects the stadium.

That being said, the demographic argument is a strong one. The audience at Hawks and Falcons games are probably 50/50% black and white. Braves game audiences are probably 75-80 percent white and are not city folk. They are mostly white suburban and really ex-burbanites who currently drive more than 40-50 minutes one way to see a game. Marietta and Cobb County are also the cradle of one of the strongest amateur baseball communities in the country. The East Cobb travel ball teams are legendary and have produced pro commodities like Francouer, McCann, Posey and Heyward.

While this would possibly be a better move for the team, I dont see any way the city lets it happen. If the Braves are bitching about 200MM to upgrade Turner, where are they going to get the $750MM to $1B they would likely have to cough up to make the Cobb stadium happen? The Braves are corporate owned and dont have an Arthur Blank who is willing to cough up $850MM of their own money to get a stadium done for the sake of legacy.

Lets compound this with the fact that most of the Cobb residents are republicans who vote harshly against any tax hikes for public use like T-SPLOST and those same folks were very vocally against the hotel tax being allocated for the Falcons stadium. There will be no will for Cobb or Marietta to pony up public funds to get this done, and even if the will was there, they just dont have enough jack.

I think in the end the economic loss on the city will be enough to cough up whatever cash is needed to satisfy the Braves. Cobb just doesnt have enough money to get it done.

Your post seemed to imply that the team needed upgrading, which is what confused me. Braves were one of the best teams in baseball all year long and will be bringing back essentially the same team.

BabyDeac75 said:

Hard to respond because I am not sure what confused you. Atlanta fans dont come out to the ol' ballpark if the team is not in contention. I sat through many a ballgame in the 70's and 80's with consistently fewer than 10K in the stands. You could buy general admission, sit anywhere you wanted, and they were glad to have you. The division winners of recent memory still are not a tough ticket compared to many MLB locations and there are many empty seats during the week. The area around the stadium is not great, but season ticket holders tend to go for the games, not the "stadium experience" that those who only go a few times a year might desire. The point is, if the team does not win, Atlanta fans wont fill any stadium. The aforementioned Cubs fans are a pretty unique exception to that observation.

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Most of the fans who can afford to go to the games live an hour away in Roswell/Alpharetta/Marietta. They're not driving down through traffic on a Wednesday to make a 7:05 first pitch. I'm surprised this stadium won't be located further north near Encore Park, to be honest.

It's mind boggling how bad the city planning was for the 96 Olympics.

GPDeac said:

Your post seemed to imply that the team needed upgrading, which is what confused me. Braves were one of the best teams in baseball all year long and will be bringing back essentially the same team.

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OK. Gotcha. What I intended was that the quality of the team needs to be maintained if they hope to fill any stadium. Pouring dollars into a stadium but not continuing to field a competitive team wont put the fannies in the seats. I was referring to the team remaining a contender in 2017 and beyond as a better business model.

BeachBumDeac said:

Oh, well this is why. Map of 2012 Season Ticket Purchasers

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"Take me out to Sprawl game"

I laughed.

Thanks, TAB. If it's posturing for negotiating improvements with the City of Atlanta, they're handling it a bit differently than you'd typically expect. It seems like usually that kind of tactic begins via a leaked story that the team is thinking about moving. In contrast, it's a bold, fucking-A move simply announcing they're leaving, posting a website, having Schuerholz release a video, etc. I agree though, hard to see the public will for a taxpayer-supported stadium (especially given that I don't think the stadium in Gwinnett has lived up to rosy projections so far), and I'd be shocked if the Braves' corporate ownership was willing to pony up significant funds.

I will say, not being from the area, any stadium in any location that gets more fans in the seats and maybe leads to a payroll increase is fine by me.

BeachBumDeac said:

What is this going to do to rush hour traffic in that area? I know there's not going to be any public transportation to the new site... are weekday games still going to be impossible to get to?

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The traffic situation would still be better than downtown. 285 and 75 are both still 5 lane interstates at that intersection. Theoretically most of the 'new' traffic for the Braves would be coming from north to south at that point, which would be against the grain for that time of day. It will really be a drag for people leaving the city to go home to the burbs, bc traffic is already heavy in that direction and it will get worse.

Still, the Braves main complaint is no mass transit. There is even less in Cobb. It would take you forever to take CCT from downtown. It would be much cheaper to add one MARTA stop as say an extension of Garnett than build a new stadium.