The New Braves Stadium Is a 'Really Crappy Deal' for Cobb County

[KeepItReal]

When the Atlanta Braves announced this morning that they would be moving out of the city to nearby Cobb County to get a new stadium in 2017, the team was quick to point out how much money they would bring with them to Cobb County. "The economic benefits from the new stadium will ripple throughout the region," reads their website, specifically explaining that it would create 5,227 jobs and $235 million in payroll. Partly because of those big job guarantees, Cobb County has offered to pay $450 million toward the new stadium, over two-thirds of the total $672 million price tag, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

However, significant economics research suggests that residents will be getting a "really crappy deal," according to Neil deMause, the co-author of Field of Schemes: How the Great Stadium Swindle Turns Public Money Into Private Profit. "The notion of stadiums as an economic catalyst is a complete myth," he told The Atlantic Wire. "The notion that you are somehow going to get economic benefits from a new stadium and a baseball team in your county that is going to make up for a loss of $450 million. ... Any economist in the country is going to say there's no possible way to earn that back," he explained.

With co-author Joanna Cagan, deMause was an early critic of public-private stadium deals, and their ideas have taken a great hold in the public consciousness. "I'll reserve further Braves snark until I read full details, but the general stadium rule is you're getting swindled 100.1% of the time," Sports Illustrated's Andy Glockner tweeted.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/11/atlanta-braves-new-stadium-terrible-deal-cobb-county/71469/

[Blue_Tires]

1. I saw that announced earlier and was absolutely gobsmacked

the Braves can NOT be fucking serious about this...

[gopiscrap]

2. Fuck that all sports teams with stadiums should be nationalized

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

3. Why do they need a new stadium?

The one they have now is 20 years old, right?

Besides, no one shows up. Atlanta is the worst pro sports town in America.

[KeepItReal]

6. They get a new stadium for the price of renovating Turner Field

The price to the owners of the Braves, that is.

They only have to come up with a couple of hundred million dollars out of pocket and get a shiny new $600 million stadium....

[okwmember]

12. Not even.

The current stadium was the 1996 olympic stadium. And once the olympics were over the stadium was handed over to the Braves to start the 97 season and Fulton County stadium was demolished.

[davidpdx]

15. That's not very old

Look at Candlestick Park out in SF. It is one of the oldest (if not the oldest) in the NFL.

The problem is that owners want a newer bigger fancier stadium every 15 years.

With stadiums now costing in the high 8 figure and low 9 figure range replacing them has become un-affordable.

[Blue Owl]

4. They all are

Once again the "little guy" foots the bill for some freaking billionaire's wet dream.

[Brigid]

5. Yep.

I'll bet we still haven't paid off Market Square Arena yet -- and it's been gone for years. And don't even get me started on Lucas Oil Stadium.

[pscot]

10. there's no other kind

[JHB]

7. Cobb County elected Newt Gingrich to congress...

...ten f***ing times.

The deal probably isn't crappy enough.

[hlthe2b]

9. I can proudly report the day I finally left Atlanta to return to Colorado for good was the day...

Gingrich returned in shame, having lost his speaker-ship and position in Congress-- to Cobb County. I saw him at baggage claim in the airport, sans entourage, trying hard to ignore everyone on his cell phone.

that was a good day....

[MadrasT]

13. That sounds delicious.

I would have *loved* to witness that.

[Spider Jerusalem]

17. When Gingrich was first elected? He was considered the liberal in the race.

Jack Flynt (the former representative for the 6th district) was an old-school segregationist who consistently ranked as one of the most conservative members of Congress. Possibly not QUITE as right-wing as fellow Georgian Larry McDonald (who was head of the John Birch Society) but not far off, either. His positions on pretty much everything would be utterly indistinguishable from someone like Lynn Westmoreland today.

[hlthe2b]

8. Yet, the mass transit (light rail) they badly need will go unfunded

but, of course...

[Moses2SandyKoufax]

19. Placing a MARTA line in Cobb County would prevent suburban residents from keeping

the poors and blacks out of their neighborhoods!

[hlthe2b]

20. Yeah... the racist acronymn for MARTA is well known to me...

Morons...

[Moses2SandyKoufax]

22. I just think it's hillarious that the organization thinks

they're going to be able to get decent crowds 81 times a year playing at a location that is an hour (at least) from everything, and a traffic black hole. On the bright side, residents of Gingrich country will never need to visit Atlanta again.

[RebelOne]

21. The mass transit here in North Georgia sucks.

In fact, in most areas it is nonexistent. I live in Woodstock just northwest of Atlanta and we do not even have any bus service.

[DonCoquixote]

11. Stadiums tend to suck

And Tampa is getting psuhed to build a new one for the rays, have they ever considered the reason we cannot go to games is because wages in the South SUCK?

[pa28]

14. I guess there really IS a sucker born every minute.

[PeteSelman]

16. And they build non-union.

They charge labor rates on par with union workers but pay less than half the union rate. It's a bad deal for everyone except the owners.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

18. and to make matters worse

they are putting it in a traffic black hole... once you wander into it, you likely will never get out.

it is a really bad deal for ATL but in fairness, ATL did NOTHING that it promised for redevelopment of the areas around Turner Field. Unless there's a game going on... it's a wasteland down there.

sP

[Tommy_Carcetti]

23. Sometimes people go overboard on outrage over stadium funding matters, but this is INSANE

Turner Field is currently 17 years old.

That's nothing. Nothing. You have Fenway which is over 100 years old and Wrigley which is nearly that amount. Both of them get their appeal and longevity by the fact that they are so old and historic, but if they had been bulldozed 20 years after they were built, the game would be lesser off for it.

Even your average stadium built specifically for baseball should last a team at least 30-40 years.

Objectively speaking, I understand there are certain current, harsh realities in sports if your city wants to keep its team. Your stadium needs to be built for that particular sport. Baseball in a football stadium won't cut it anymore, and visa versa. Your stadium has to have modern amenities in terms of concession areas, scoreboards, etc. And your stadium has to have plenty of luxury box seats for the bigwigs and high rollers.

I'm not saying I like any of those requirements. I'm not saying any of those requirements are necessary in order to enjoy a good sports teams. But those are the realities in the modern sports world with million dollar salaries and TV deals and such.

But here's the thing. Turner Field already has that stuff.

It was built for baseball. Well, technically it was built first for the Olympics but even as a track and field venue it was obvious from the shape of the grandstand that it would ultimately be used for baseball and baseball only after the games were over. So the Braves get all the attention at the park and aren't treated like second-class tenants (like the Marlins were at Joe Robbie Stadium before they moved into their own park).

It has plenty of modern amenities, modern concourses, food venues, etc. They replaced the original scoreboard with an even larger HD video board just a few years ago.

It has plenty of luxury box seating for the corporate types.

So this just makes no sense. No sense whatsoever. From an objective criteria, there is one, maybe two ballparks in baseball that might need replacing. The Oakland Coliseum, and maybe Tampa Bay's Tropicana Field, although in that instance it's more about aesthetics and location than modern amenities (they play in a dome with a bland concrete exterior, and it's located far from the center of the metropolitan area).

The only thing that comes to my mind as to why the Braves don't like it is that the stadium borders a lower income, minority neighborhood and God forbid fans from the suburbs be turned off because they have to see dark skinned people. I really think there is a more sinister motive behind the news.