Atlanta Braves moving to Cobb County

[KenFSU]

Man, what a waste. Bulldozing a beautiful, 17-year old urban ballpark so that Cobb County can pony up a half billion dollars in public subsidies for an unnecessary replacement. Throw in the Falcons debacle with the Dome, and you've really got to wonder when cities are going to stand up and say enough is enough to keeping up with the Jones on these stadiums. Jacksonville is going to have a really interesting decision on its hands when the Everbank lease expires and new billion dollar stadiums are the norm.

I don't know that they will remain the norm 15 years from now, though; and it's certainly possible to upgrade an older stadium periodically, as with New Orleans and Kansas City.

Lambeau too

[I-10east]

Man, what a waste. Bulldozing a beautiful, 17-year old urban ballpark so that Cobb County can pony up a half billion dollars in public subsidies for an unnecessary replacement.

I totally agree. What makes this ATL situation unique is that they are tearing down a nice venue, in contrast to other sports organizations that fled (or will flee) into the suburbs because of antiquated stadiums in the city, like the 49ers, Redskins etc.

[Coolyfett]

http://www.peachpundit.com/2013/11/11/atlanta-braves-plan-move-to-cobb-county-by-2017/

The Braves stadium situation is like the Jaguars to an extent. A downtown stadium and a suburban fanbase. The Braves saw the writing on the wall and went where the fans were. It is only a matter of time before the Jaguars decide a stadium somewhere off 295 is a necessity.

Fan of Sprawl?

[Coolyfett]

Turner Field is a very nice stadium. Jags are not moving off 295.

Its a great park, Ive been to several games. I live 1 minute from where they are putting the new stadium...Im not feeling this.

[Coolyfett]

Cobb County?  Is Turner Field really outdated?  I still remember the old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Somehow I doubt attendance will shoot up as a result.  Atlanta is like Miami. For a variety of issues, they suck as sports towns. A ballpark in congested Cobb County isn't going to fix that problem.

Lots of people are irritated about the news. No one was even thinking about the Braves needing a new field at all. Ive walked from Georgia State Station to Turner Field maybe 14-16 times the only times it sucks was during the colder baseball months of April and September. Ive also used the Shuttle from Underground to Turner its like a 3 minute ride. The traffic between 285\75 & 285\85 is parking lot 5 days a week.

[I-10east]

I still can't believe that they're actually gonna go through with this. I'm stunned. What an awful decision. 

[coredumped]

[I-10east]

^^^LOL, maybe they will eventually transition out that tomahawk, and replace it with a fancy mailbox or something more resembling the suburbs.

[simms3]

Between this, the Falcons' Stadium, the handling of the Streetcar, the failure of TIA/TSPLOST, and other wreckless shenanigans in the city (and THE BURBS, my God I can't STAND most of metro Atlanta), I am just glad to be out of that mess (Atlanta).

Braves' ownership is very very selfish plain and simple.  And furthermore this is proof that Conservatives, Tea Partiers, Republicans, etcetc are the most hypocritical voting blocks ever.  Vehemently opposed to new taxes, except if it's for a worthless new billion dollar sports stadium.  LoL I really can't even take the hypocrisy.

And not enough public transit options, lack of convenience to highways, not enough parking, etc etc??  WTF  Moving to suburban Cobb County is going to address these issues?

And the stadium has served the team well but does not adequately serve the fan experience?  Turner Field was designed and developed by the same people who renovated Fenway and Camden Yards.  It is constantly touted as one of the best baseball stadiums in America.  Having been to quite a few myself, I feel like I can attest.

So the Braves are going to leave a deserted stadium and a sea of asphalt behind in a former working class neighborhood that once had good bones.  The best (and only) chance that neighborhood had of becoming something once again was with the Braves stadium there.  Now it will continue to be a wasteland with no more visitation.  I think the City dropped the ball on that one - for the same price it's going to cost the City to build a new Falcons stadium, they could have just built a mixed-use "town" around Turner Field.  I don't know why the hell the city stuck with the Falcons - I think football stadiums actually are better in the suburbs, but there's no denying that baseball stadiums are perfect for urban cities, helping to boost and revitalize neighborhoods in nearly every city they are located in.

Damn shame on both the Braves and the City.  What's new?

[Keith-N-Jax]

Wouldn't it have been just as easy to extend Marta to that stadium? I remember when I lived there I never drove into town for events. I took Marta into town.

[I-10east]

I think football stadiums actually are better in the suburbs, but there's no denying that baseball stadiums are perfect for urban cities, helping to boost and revitalize neighborhoods in nearly every city they are located in.

+100

If possible, I prefer all pro sports venues to be in an urban environment, but especially baseball stadiums. You can get away with having a football stadium in the suburbs, but suburban MLB stadiums are very few and far between; Maybe that exception is the home of the Anaheim Angels, even though technically it's within the city limits.

[simms3]

Wouldn't it have been just as easy to extend Marta to that stadium? I remember when I lived there I never drove into town for events. I took Marta into town.

That's the setup, yes (via free shuttle from 5 Points station).  But extending MARTA rail directly to the stadium is not feasible.  A streetcar down Capitol Ave through DT Atlanta and up through Midtown would have been perrrfect (connecting MARTA rail stops along the way).  The current streetcar under construction is going to be a waste in my opinion, but once again politics got in the way there (and politics/racial sensitivity has gotten in the way of actually redeveloping the area around where the new streetcar is going...in the name of keeping a rundown low-density area "historic").

MARTA connects directly to the Dome (for Falcons games and concerts) at Vine City if I recall correctly.  Ironically, Atlanta's football stadium may be the least car dependent of all football stadiums in America.  But I would rather see a sea of parking filled with tailgaters than arrive to a football game by rail.  I think the reverse can be true for baseball - sure there's "tailgating" at the Braves games now (moreso than Falcons imo because Turner has more surface parking), but there's only tailgating at Braves games because there are no bars or restaurants around the stadium.  Adding streetcar and building up an urban mixed-use environment around Turner was always discussed by planners in the city, but they aren't necessarily listened to, have no political clout, and no financial backers.

[I-10east]

So the 'would-be' improvements at Turner Field would have costed the city 150 million in 'infrastructure improvements'; That consists of new lighting and seats. Seats really? What in the hell do they have at Turner Field now, old Fenway Park splinter bleachers from 1912? That sounds like an extreme exaggeration, the stadium isn't that old.

Yet they chose to relocate to Cobb County where the Braves organization will have to pay 200 million, with the county paying an additional 450 million. What a debacle...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7hBarU1bNA

[FSBA]

Some Braves sites are wondering if this was political posturing gone terribly wrong for both sides. It would make sense considering the oddly specific price tag but haven't seen the first concept drawing for a new stadium
http://www.talkingchop.com/2013/11/11/5091418/right-now-we-have-more-questions-than-answers-about-the-new-stadium

[KenFSU]

Some Braves sites are wondering if this was political posturing gone terribly wrong for both sides. It would make sense considering the oddly specific price tag but haven't seen the first concept drawing for a new stadium
http://www.talkingchop.com/2013/11/11/5091418/right-now-we-have-more-questions-than-answers-about-the-new-stadium

Gonna do a copy/paste on this article, just because I think it brings up some really interesting points, up to and including a potential Braves logo and/or name change. It's going to be really interesting to see where the dust settles on all of this.

Right Now We Have More Questions Than Answers About The New Stadium

By Franklin J. Rabon @fjrabon on Nov 11 2013, 1:44p 35
Kevin C. Cox

Almost all of the important details of the Braves' move to outside the perimeter remain a mystery at this point.
Tweet (23) Share Share 35 Comments

Less than a week after Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed was re-elected, it has been announced that the Atlanta Braves will be moving outside the I-285 perimeter that traditionally defines the city.  While the new location sits in an unincorporated area (meaning it technically isn't part of any city), the stadium will have an Atlanta mailing address, though it won't actually be a part of the City of Atlanta.

Based on early reactions, people's take on the move is almost entirely dependent on where they live.  Braves fans to the Northwest of the city are thrilled, fans inside the perimeter and southward are angry, and fans to the Northeast seem happy overall, but wondering what transportation will look like.

However, at this point we know few details.  We know the location, the Northwest corner of the I-285 I-75 junction, and a bizarrely specific cost, $672 million.  We know the stadium will be owned by the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority and not the Braves, though the Braves will be a "significant investor" in the project.

The source of the $672 million is the first, and biggest mystery.  From the Atlanta Braves' site, it touts the projects as "[being] a true public-private partnership" however, calls to the Cobb County Commissioner's office indicated that no public money has been approved.  Some outlets have stated that roughly $200 million will be provided by the Braves and $400-500 million by "investors arranged by Cobb County."  What exactly this means is anybody's guess.  For what it is worth Kasim Reed has just stated that the money Cobb County is providing is "public" money, so this issue is even more confused.

Further mystery is in the details of how the transportation situation will work itself out.  One of the major reasons cited by the Braves for the move is the difficulty of traffic at Turner Field.  The I-75 I-85 connector can indeed be pretty bad during a game day, but as those who live in the area can attest, the I-75 I-285 junction is not substantially better, and it has never had to handle 41,000 Braves fans (rumored capacity for the new stadium).  While it is debatable as to whether the transportation situation would be improved in that area as is, it's unclear what, if any plans, for linking public transportation to the area exist.  Traditionally Cobb County has been very opposed to spending on public transportation and again calls to the Commissioner's Office indicate that there are "no current plans for public money to fund transportation."  Given the tone of animosity Mayor Reed put off in his statement, it also seems unlikely that Metro Atlanta would "play ball" (oh God, I've become Mark, I'm so sorry you guys) in helping develop MARTA out that way either.  Again, we're left with more questions than answers when it comes to traffic and transportation.

While many of the Braves' ticket buyers live in the Northern suburbs, many of them work inside the city, so it's not even totally clear that their time to the game would be shorter on average.  Especially since a drive from the city would now be in the same direction as rush hour traffic, whereas in the past, a drive to Turner Field from north of the city was mostly a reverse commute, until you hit game traffic.

We also have no idea what any of this is going to look like.  In a world where stadium mock ups are often made years before funding is secured and a move is guaranteed, apparently this move was settled on without even a single drawing of the potential look of the complex or stadium having been made.  It seems rather bizarre to me that we can know that the cost of the complex will be exactly $672 million dollars without the Braves even having solicited bids from architectural firms, which very obviously hasn't happened yet.  As for now, the closest we have to a rendering of the new stadium comes from the Braves' site for the project (which is incredibly vague on nearly every pertinent detail), and it looks like this:

10803631195_b0502c0a1d_medium

At this point it is not 100% clear that this is set in stone happening.  It's awfully quick, and it sounds like from Mayor Reed's statement that he believes this was a leverage ploy to get public funds for a new stadium that went too far.  You definitely get a "well, if they're really just going to give you $400-500 million, have at it boys" feel reading his statement.  Further, actual Cobb County Government officials have said absolutely nothing about this.  The Braves have stated that Cobb County will be doing most of the "heavy lifting" on the project, but for a county about to gird its collective loins for nearly a half billion dollars, they sure aren't saying very much.

Finally, there's even some speculation that the team may not be the Atlanta Braves after the move, and no they wouldn't be changing to the Marietta Braves as some have jokingly stated on twitter, but rather changing the team's name, mascot and logo, from the AJC's political reporters: "Could it be a chance also to rebrand the Braves' image? The scuttlebutt among some politicos is that the team may also look to change their logo amid the move."

As a midtown resident, and someone who generally believes that new stadiums are a poor use of public funds, my first reaction was to dislike the move, but without knowing virtually any of the important details it's difficult to have much of an objective opinion on any of this.

UPDATE

After speaking with some City of Atlanta politicians who wish to remain anonymous, many remain skeptical that the "private funds arranged by Cobb County" will hold up and that this deal with either turn out to be publicly funded by the residents of Cobb County or that it will completely fall through and the Braves will awkwardly remain at Turner Field.  While admitting this is all speculation on his part, one official put it this way "you don't just raise half a billion dollars in private investment without anyone hearing about it."

UPDATE

Justin Farmer of WSB is reporting that Mayor Reed is saying this is "far from a done deal" which corresponds with what I was told earlier today by lower ranking politicians.