Braves Join Falcons in Abandoning Perfectly Good Facility

[rams80]

Sorry for digressing a bit, but while we're on the subject of Atlanta sports venues, can someone tell me exactly what is preventing the Georgia Dome from hosting future Super Bowls? What is it missing that only a brand new $1.1 billion replacement can provide?

Giant heating vents that can melt ice and lull Ray Lewis into a languid torpor.

[Sport]

Sorry for digressing a bit, but while we're on the subject of Atlanta sports venues, can someone tell me exactly what is preventing the Georgia Dome from hosting future Super Bowls? What is it missing that only a brand new $1.1 billion replacement can provide?

I don't know. It's good enough for the SEC Championship game and that's the most important game in the entire sport of football.

[dbadefense1990]

Sorry for digressing a bit, but while we're on the subject of Atlanta sports venues, can someone tell me exactly what is preventing the Georgia Dome from hosting future Super Bowls? What is it missing that only a brand new $1.1 billion replacement can provide?

Jerry Jones' multi-billion dollar mega-stadia fetish, equipped with a 500' ultra-HD jumbotron, seating capacity upwards of a quarter-million, and $200 for grass parking.

Because FOOTBALL!

[Cosmic]

Sorry for digressing a bit, but while we're on the subject of Atlanta sports venues, can someone tell me exactly what is preventing the Georgia Dome from hosting future Super Bowls? What is it missing that only a brand new $1.1 billion replacement can provide?

Jerry Jones' multi-billion dollar mega-stadia fetish, equipped with a 500' ultra-HD jumbotron, seating capacity upwards of a quarter-million, and $200 for grass parking.

Because FOOTBALL!

And a heated toilet seat for Roger Goodell's suite.

[Gothamite]

http://www.ajc.com/weblogs/jay-bookman/2013/nov/12/cobb-gop-chairman-concerned-about-those-people-com/

I just got back from Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed's press conference on the Braves' move to a transportation-challenged site in Cobb County, and will have a lot more to say on that later. But I can't let this pass without notice:

Joe Dendy, chairman of the Cobb County Republican Party, says that he has two conditions for supporting the Braves' proposed move (h/t Jim Galloway):

1.) That Cobb County citizens won't have to pay higher taxes as a result, and

2.) It is absolutely necessary the (transportation) solution is all about moving cars in and around Cobb and surrounding counties from our north and east where most Braves fans travel from, and not moving people into Cobb by rail from Atlanta."

At least someone's being honest.

Amazing quote, there. Sometimes the bigots forget to obfuscate and give you a little peek at what they think.

[buzzcut]

Sorry for digressing a bit, but while we're on the subject of Atlanta sports venues, can someone tell me exactly what is preventing the Georgia Dome from hosting future Super Bowls? What is it missing that only a brand new $1.1 billion replacement can provide?

I don't know. It's good enough for the SEC Championship game and that's the most important game in the entire sport of football.

You must be the biggest liar in the whole galaxy. Super Bowl >>>>>>>>>>SEC Championship Game.

Getting back on track, the oldest venue for playing professional sport in the Atlanta is still, and always will be Atlanta Motor Speedway(Unless Bruton Smith decides that he also wants to move to Cobb County, or decide to build a retractable-roofed speedway near the GWCC).

[The_Admiral]

You must be the biggest liar in the whole galaxy. Super Bowl >>>>>>>>>>SEC Championship Game.

Does the Super Bowl have S.E.C. SPEED? Don't think so, bub. Them there good southern boys are playin' FOOTBAW for the love of the game and for something worth more than money: an education. I look at it this way: there's a 100% chance an SEC team wins the SEC Championship Game. There's a 0% chance an SEC team wins the Super Bowl. Do the math and get back to me.

[TheOldRoman]

Amazing quote, there. Sometimes the bigots forget to obfuscate and give you a little peek at what they think.

Absolutely. And when they do, it gives you gems like "typical white person".

[NJTank]

Can I get some support for my idea to name it Raymond Trayler Park.

[BBTV]

Whoever chooses "hard times" as his walk up music instantly becomes my favorite player.

[The_Admiral]

Here's what I found to be a pretty piece of writing from Jonathan Mahler:

http://deadspin.com/the-braves-move-from-atlanta-is-an-affront-to-baseball-1464550469

Getting to a Braves game will be an even more unpleasant experience for many fans once the team moves. Cobb County is aggressively opposed to mass transit, and if you think the arrival of a 40,000-plus seat ballpark might change that, you're wrong. The chairman of the Cobb County Republican Party, Joe Dendy, has vowed that the county won't make it any easier for people from Atlanta—yes, those people—to arrive by train.

It's one thing for 80,000-seat football stadiums, with their sprawling, tailgate-friendly parking lots, to be situated in the suburbs. But baseball is different. Even the New York Yankees had the decency to build their $1.5 billion, luxury-suite-lined ballpark in the city, just steps from several different subway lines.

Baseball stadiums from Fenway and Wrigley to Coors and PNC are welcoming, democratic places, stitched into the fabric of their cities. They're located near subways, commuter rail, bike lanes, bus lines and within walking distance of neighborhoods where people live and work. The unmistakable message is that these ballparks are for everyone. You can still buy a ticket to a game, and maybe even treat yourself to a beer, for a relatively modest sum—as professional sporting events go, anyway. It's a pleasant enough way to spend a summer afternoon or evening, and on any given day, there's an almost 50-50 chance that your team will be in town. Ballparks aren't quite public space, but they are awfully close.

The Braves' new stadium, by contrast, will be an inaccessible suburban theme park surrounded not by vibrant signs of city life but by sprawl—subdivisions, strip malls and SUV-choked interstates and access routes. It promises to be more than just a monument to failed urban planning. It's going to be an affront to baseball.

[DEAD!]

Ladies and Gentlemen, your baseball version of jobing.com arena.

[HedleyLamarr]

It's not like Turner Field has a lot of fans riding Marta to the games now anyway. And Marta's had nearly 50 years to make their train system better serve the city, including getting fans to Braves games at Turner Field or Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Like I've said before, the closest train station is a mile away, and the shuttle service isn't all that dependable. Marta nearly cut off their shuttle service a few years ago, anyway. Kinda shows how many Braves fans use Marta, huh?

A couple years ago, my friend and I went to a game at Wrigley Stadium (Thank you, Jeff Gordon.) The ballpark is like a block away from the train station, and despite the game ending around 4pm-ish and many fans using the trains, I don't remember there being much of a wait between getting to the train station and being aboard a train heading back to the Loop.

Chicago has trains that run 24 hours. Chicago has trains that go all over the city and nearby suburbs. Many other major cities have the same thing. Atlanta has such a small transit station in comparison. The trains are always late. And there seems to be no signs of improving public transportation here.

About the only negative about the Braves possibly moving is that the game-day-only workers will be affected. They're the ones that use Marta or live near the ballpark. I doubt they'll work at the Cobb County stadium unless public transportation makes huge strides in the next 4 years.

[The_Admiral]

Red/Purple trains run like every five minutes at rush hour. It's super-easy to get back to the Loop from Addison, yeah.

I'll have to do some research, but wasn't MARTA practically designed to fail? I think I remember reading that.

[dbadefense1990]

The Braves' new stadium, by contrast, will be an inaccessible suburban theme park surrounded not by vibrant signs of city life but by sprawlsubdivisions, strip malls and SUV-choked interstates and access routes. It promises to be more than just a monument to failed urban planning. It's going to be an affront to baseball.

Ladies and Gentlemen, your baseball version of jobing.com arena.

I can't wait for the Cobb County townhall meeting, when those people will bring up "arguments" in defending the idea of ponying $300 million in bonds to paying for such a debacle, ala the same kind of lunacy we all witnessed in Glendale.

Only difference, though, is that we will see someone accredited from ITT Tech defending the idea, rather than from the University of Phoenix.

[dfwabel]

Ladies and Gentlemen, your baseball version of jobing.com arena.

One could say that MLB has had this for over 40 years in Arlington, TX.

Arlington did not have any mass transit (within Tarrant or to Dallas County) until this August when they reached an agreement with DART for an Arlington to Dallas shuttle called Arlington Maxx.

[BlueSky]

For once I have to...come on, you can do it...actually agree with...must force fingers onto the right keys...Hedley. MARTA was never a viable option for most fans going to a Braves game anyway. Someone else asked about safety. I'm been to numerous Braves and Falcons games (wearing Saints gear no less) and never felt unsafe or threatened. In fairness, though, if there was a Gray Line tour here it wouldn't be hitting the neighborhood around Turner Field. Also, the police presence on game day definitely helps. Crime in downtown Atlanta is a fact of life. For example, numerous students at Georgia Tech and Georgia State have been victims, mostly of robbery.

I take exception to the racial twist some of you are trying to put on this. I've lived here since 2001 and for anyone to imply, in Atlanta of all places, that there are racist motives is preposterous. If the Braves' ticket sales research favored a different area of the city near MARTA where they could get a comparable financing deal, then that place would be under consideration too. It's about money and selling tickets. Anybody trying to make more of it than that is just trying to stir the pot.

Let me give you a personal example on the race thing. Years ago I was a Big Brother and my Little Brother was African-American. We went to a Braves game and most people didn't even seem to notice. That's how Atlanta is for the most part. But the few second-takes we got came from people of both races.

I oppose the move on several levels but f the map is accurate - and taking into account that the Braves routinely have walkup tickets available for playoff games - there is a business case for moving closer to the money so to speak. I'm not defending the move but I understand some of their rationale (if not all). Still, it's a disgrace to leave a perfectly good stadium and this is a huge mistake for Cobb County. Not to mention anybody who drives I-75 or I-285 in that area given the traffic disaster this will inevitable become.

[The_Admiral]

The guy said "we don't want city people who are too poor to own cars to come here." Seeing as this is not New York where you can make decent money and still not own a car, this is pretty overt.

[Gothamite]

Precisely. We're not putting a racial spin on this, Cobb County is.

[njmeadowlanders]

I'm not saying it isn't accurate but the map that the Braves keep referring to was made by...the Braves. Take that for what it's worth.