Monday, November 11, 2013
IT WILL LOOK LIKE THE DEAL IS DEAD. DON'T WORRY. IT'S NOT: If you woke up this morning like our Atlanta-area fans wondering just why your Braves are moving to Cobb County (this graphic suggests one reason), or just happen to be a reader who owns a professional sports team and is looking for a place for it to play, here's a handy twenty-step guide to getting the public to pay for your new stadium.
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I'm sure it would surprise no one that if you took that graph of where "ticket support" lives and overlaid it with race (white) and income (high) graphs the layers would be nearly identical. Viva la Rich White People.
ReplyDeleteI'd rather go to Turner Field's current location, via MARTA, than brave (no pun intended) the hell that is the Galleria area. The Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center is right there and it's always a headache going to events there, especially leaving, when everyone's trying to exit at the same time. So, yes, let's add major sporting event traffic into that mix. GRARLHLALHFG.
When I saw this plan my first reaction was, "wait, they're building a major attraction in a way that won't be reached by urban mass transit?" I didn't know cities still did that. Maybe I shouldn't complain about my city selling naming rights for the subway stop that serves 4+ professional sports teams.
ReplyDeleteTurner Field is 16 years old and it needs -- somehow -- to be replaced? Lordy.
ReplyDeleteHow will they retain the tradition of 16 long years at their current location? Will they move the giant Coke bottle to the new park?
ReplyDeleteAssuming they beef up the ramps and exits, this **could be** easier to get in and out of than Cobb Energy Center (which, if you don't know the area, doesn't really tell you how to get back on the freeway). Helpful signage is not a priority for the Georgia DOT.
ReplyDeleteIdeally the stadium's parking lot will dump straight onto I-75 and I-285, and for those who know the area, alternate streets are easy and plentiful. But, otherwise, that is one hellacious clusterf*ck of tangled freeways and a normally 20 minute ride from downtown or Duluth can be an hour during rush hour.
If you're a Weather Channel fan, their building is a couple hundred yards the other side of I-75 from the new stadium site.
Joking aside, here's the thing: there are only 13 older ballparks currently in use -- two from the 1910s, three from the 1960s (including Oakland, which is the last remaining MLB-NFL timeshare), one from the 1970s, one from the 1980s, and six from 1990-1995. It really was only a matter of time before someone actually moved from a 1990s-era ballpark (the Rays have been trying for years, but the horrendously miserable Trop is something of a special case).
ReplyDeleteAnd here's just how much the people of Cobb County are going to be hosed (I'm trying not to step over a line, but I think it goes along with the final link above):
ReplyDeletehttp://deadspin.com/cobb-county-taxpayers-wont-get-a-say-on-funding-the-br-1462355602
I'm guessing "arguments against public financing of stadiums" is sort of like our view of China during the Beijing Games. Remember, the Rule isn't about avoiding political discussion, so things that are all-but-inarguable may find themselves outside the Original Intent of the Rule.
ReplyDelete(This is not an invitation to litigation what constitutes inarguable - as that would be self-negating).
Since we're going there, good on the Mayor of Atlanta for not falling for this particular banana in the tailpipe.
ReplyDeleteCurrently, you can't take mass transit to a Braves game. If you're riding Marta, closest stop (at GA State) is about a 25-30 minute walk, and they do run some shuttles from there on game day. There are also couple neighborhood bus lines that run nearby and that's it.
ReplyDeleteThere are already bus routes from downtown to the Cumberland Mall, which is about 1/4 mile from the proposed field. Parking should be easier at the new stadium.
If it's easier for Cobb and North Fulton drivers to get in and out of the new stadium, weekday attendance will probably be higher than at Turner field
A number of us actually know friends from law school who own professional sports teams and have had stadiums built for them. Minor league baseball can be lucrative with the right tax incentives . . .
ReplyDeleteI've always taken MARTA to Braves games - usually driving in and parking at Perimeter Mall and taking the train and then the shuttle. It makes me much happier to get on the shuttle and be on a bus that MOVES right after the game, rather than be sitting in my own car, inching forward in a traffic nightmare.
ReplyDeleteHe's taking it on the chin in local media, though. The NBC affiliate news tonight had the blaring headline, along with a full-screen infographic, "Reed loses two major sports teams for Atlanta". (The first being the Thrashers.)
ReplyDeleteUnfair, but then mayors don't tend to get credit for not throwing away money on non-essential things, especially when BUT SPORTS! is the alternative. (And does Atlanta really miss the Thrashers? This may be unfair too, because I don't really know what the issues were with that move besides what I gather was a rocky ownership situation, but how many chances should a city get to fail to support an NHL team?)
ReplyDeleteFrom the last link: "You won't even have to ask the press to do any of this; they'll do it on their own for some reason."
ReplyDeleteThe "some reason" the author seems to miss is that the newspaper owns the land the new stadium will go on. Not that that would be a conflict of interest that the editorial page would ever disclaim...
Without overstepping any boundaries, the issue is that part of the reason the current location is considered unfavorable is that it's in a part of town that has a higher black population than the new location.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's unfair. I find it interesting how different media outlets are framing the story. Is the headline, "Mayor Loses Major Sport" or "Mayor Saves Taxpayers Millions"? Both are accurate and misleading in equal parts.
ReplyDeleteSo it's okay to hint that your neighbors are racist, so long as you don't come out and say it? Pretty fuzzy boundaries...
ReplyDeleteI meant boundaries in the sense that:
ReplyDelete1. I'm trying to be respectful of the no-politics rule, in case such a statement could be considered political.
2. I'm self-conscious, as a white person, of passing judgment on whether things are racist. Do I have a right to make that call? I think as an intelligent, observant person that I do, but some arguments are better left to be made by the injured parties.
Uhhh....and also unfavorable because the current location is further from their customers
ReplyDeleteAtlantans? So moving further away is a good thing?
ReplyDelete