The Braves Reported to be Moving to Cobb County

Rough Carrigan

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TheYaz67 said:
Even if Turner is not optimal from a parking & traffic standpoint, and the season ticket holder map points to a new location helping to drive better attendance, it still feels disgusting that they build Turner Field and 20 years later it is being abandoned - just seems like an epic waste of money to get so little value from the initial investment.  A "disposable ballpark" for a disposable society.
 
Pretty decent ballpark too - not like it is "falling down", nor is it one of the old soulless concrete bowl monstrosities of the 1960s.  Is there any hope for reuse, or is it just going to get torn down in 5 or 6 years?
Speaking of soulless, they had that bastard Richard Justice on MLB network to talk about this and he just casually spouted the team's line that, oh they couldn't possibly stay in Turner Field.  It needs $100-200 million of repairs just to be an acceptable venue.  Bullllllllllshhhhhhhhhhhit.  What a fucking corporate tool! 
 

Hoplite

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jose melendez said:
What a freaking joke.  Providing even a dime's worth of public money to this is an insane screwjob to the taxpayer.  In conclusion, fuck the Braves.
 
Yup. Any excuse about traffic or parking or fan distribution is just a load of B.S. It's all about the money.
 

absintheofmalaise

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Gunfighter 09 said:
It's amazing to me that MLB will allow this but is "powerless" to make the Giants stop being shitheads to the A's or help sell the Coliseum site to the city of Oakland.
 
Grantland writer Rembert Browne (an Atlanta native) wrote an article about this today: 
 
http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/82022/saying-good-bye-as-the-braves-leave-atlanta-for-atlanta
Thanks for posting that. And Rough, JC Bradbury lives down here. If you haven't heard of him, he's a sports economist at KSU who has written a couple of books on baseball. He is all over this and he is also very much against public financing of stadiums. You should read what he said about the deal Gwinnett made with the Braves for the AAA stadium they built there. Right now, not much is known on how this will be "privately financed". One thing we do know though is that there isn't a public referendum scheduled and you need one to raise taxes on us. Because of this, people have been speculating that there will be some sort of hotel/motel tax, maybe combined with an additional tax on rental cars. I know that I want nothing to do with helping to pay for the Braves moving here, and neither does anyone else I talked to about it. 
 

absintheofmalaise

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Some more information on financing. 
 
J.C. Bradbury @jc_bradbury

Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott says 99% of county taxpayers should not expect tax increase tied to stadium. The private funding rumor is false.

 
J.C. Bradbury @jc_bradbury

Do expect some type of business tax, possibly in Cumberland Improvement District only.

 
This last one should make the owner of the company I work for really happy, since that is where our company is located.
 

Rough Carrigan

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absintheofmalaise said:
Some more information on financing. 
 
J.C. Bradbury @jc_bradbury

Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott says 99% of county taxpayers should not expect tax increase tied to stadium. The private funding rumor is false.

 
J.C. Bradbury @jc_bradbury

Do expect some type of business tax, possibly in Cumberland Improvement District only.

 
This last one should make the owner of the company I work for really happy, since that is where our company is located.
Per my post on the Cardinals' back door return of money, saying that 99% of county taxpayers should not expect an increase tied to the stadium doesn't rule out the Braves getting special tax reductions for 25-30 years down the line like the Cardinals did.  It's a cute little less conspicuous way of doing the same thing.  In 2017, everyone's property tax goes up a little bit and they tell you it's because of a slump in real estate prices or something when in reality it's because they now have X acres of land that they're getting nothing back from because they gave the Braves a special tax deal on land that had been a good source of revenue to the County.
 

Harry Hooper

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GBrushTWood said:
 
 
It seems like an attendance ploy, which the Braves could use, so that's a plus. I used to live on Windy Ridge Parkway a long time ago, and to me this spot seems pretty solid for a major sports venue. There is tons of shopping/retail/restaurants along Cobb Parkway, Powers Ferry, etc. You've got huge corporations (Coca Cola, GE, etc) with large offices within 5 mins driving distance. There are some residential areas nearby. Similar to Turner Field, I don't believe there is MARTA access anywhere near this new area. I doubt the Braves really give a shit about that though, everybody drives in Atlanta.
 
The real problem as others have mentioned is the traffic. They're gonna turn 285 into a parking lot half the year with this plan. The current roads can't handle the regular work commuters, nevermind 50K+ people packing their way in during the evening commute..
 
Attendance? The new park will have about 10,000 fewer seats.
 
Forbes blogger Tommy Tomlinson went off on this move:

 
4. Braves president John Schuerholz, in his video message to fans, calls the new stadium “a short distance from downtown Atlanta” and all I can say in response is HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I guess it would be a short distance if you had a jetpack. But trying to get from downtown ATL out I-75 to the other side of the Perimeter for a 7:30 game … make sure your SUV is loaded with provisions. It’s gonna be the Oregon Trail out there.
 
5. That I-75/I-285 interchange is one of the worst in Atlanta already. Once the Braves start playing out there in 2017, expect a lot of people that first season to arrive around the fifth inning.
 
6. The new stadium is going to be smaller than Turner Field, and that actually makes sense, because despite the Braves’ incredible success over the past 20 years, people still don’t come to the games. The Braves won 96 games last season — one shy of the best record in baseball — but the team was just 13th in attendance. If you sort by percentage of seats filled, the Braves drop to 21st. So a stadium of 41,000 to 42,000 — about 10,000 seats smaller than the Ted — is like lap-band surgery: It’ll feel more full even if the same amount of stuff is in there.
 
7. However, if the Braves start losing … with a downtown stadium, people working in downtown Atlanta might stick around after work, grab some dinner and go to a Braves game. But get off work and do the commuter death march to Cobb to watch a losing team? No way.
 
 

Monbo Jumbo

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The threats on both sides of the Atlanta-Braves negotiations
 
 
...But we're told the Braves privately contend that the stiff-arm came from the other direction. At one of their meetings this spring, we’re told, Utz looked at a frustrated Plant and said, “It’s not as if you can move anywhere.”
Plant was a member of the 1980 Olympic U.S. speed-skating team. That encounter, we’re told, is what set Plant’s competitive juices flowing and prompted the outreach to Cobb County. And it’s likely to become a part of Braves lore....
 
 
Wow!
 
The city ASSUMED the Braves had no options to move and played hardball from that perspective. Huge unforced error. Fucking morons. 
 

absintheofmalaise

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And now it looks like Atlanta will demolish Turner and develop the area.
 
 
 
”We’re going to have a master developer that is going to demolish the Ted and we’re going to have one of the largest developments for middle-class people that the city has ever had,” said Mayor Kasim Reed. Turner Field, or “The Ted” as it’s lovingly called, was prepared in 1997 for the Braves at the conclusion of the 1996 Summer Olympics.
 

Comfortably Lomb

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Monbo Jumbo said:
The threats on both sides of the Atlanta-Braves negotiations
 
 
 
Wow!
 
The city ASSUMED the Braves had no options to move and played hardball from that perspective. Huge unforced error. Fucking morons. 
 
 
I know you started a V&N thread about wastefulness in general, but here it looks like local government made two major errors: first, only locking the Braves into a 20 year lease, and second, needlessly pressuring the Braves when the leverage to do so was not actually there. The real story is incompetence.
 

JimD

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Not that I support what the Braves are doing, but I do have to chuckle at the sudden burst of enthusiasm from the mayor and the city about the redevelopment opportunities at the Turner Field site.  The money that probably could have gone into a deal to keep the Braves in town will likely go instead to development interests and the city's taxpayers will be not much better off (if not worse off).
 

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in fairness, Monbo, the lighting had to be upgraded and that wasn't cheap.  The shit they used 2000 years ago caused global warming.
 

Beomoose

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I really could give a shit about Atlanta, the Braves, or Georgia in general, and that includes my relatives living there. But I worry this is going to be one of those trend-setting moments, and we're in for a decade of teams with Urban stadiums threatening to bolt to rich suburbia at the drop of a hat.
Yaz4Ever said:
in fairness, Monbo, the lighting had to be upgraded and that wasn't cheap.  The shit they used 2000 years ago caused global warming.
I just wish they'd re-install the Romans' retracting roof.
 

uncannymanny

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Have any of these taxpayer funded stadiums NOT been a complete failure financially for said taxpayers? And I don't know the details of how this works, but it seems like the taxpayers themselves don't get a day in whether these stadiums get built and taxes raised?
 

absintheofmalaise

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According to the MDJ, the Braves will be paying for 55% of the cost of the $672 million, with the balance being paid by the businesses in the Cumberland Community Improvement District. If this is true, I feel better about the financing portion of the deal.
 
 
MARIETTA — When the numbers for the proposed Cobb County-Atlanta Braves stadium are released today, they will show the Braves are paying for 55 percent of the $672 million stadium cost, county chairman Tim Lee told the MDJ late Wednesday night. 

“The other 45 percent will be funded without a tax increase for over 95 percent of Cobb County residents,” Lee said. “This is a public-private partnership and the Braves are paying for 55 percent of the cost.”
 
 
 
“I believe that those who are going to benefit the most from the Braves moving to Cobb County will be the ones that will be making the largest investment in it,” Goreham said. 

Who are those people? 

Lee said they were “those who live in area of the Cumberland Community Improvement District” where the new stadium’s home is expected to be built.
 

Hambone

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I've talked to some folks and Cobb County appears to be making a pretty big power play with the goal of building an area that will attract visitors year round. They know it's not going to happen overnight, but they've look at what exists with Fenway and Wrigley, as well as some newer stadiums with year round attractions and look at this as a way to bolster vacationers and business.
 
Traffic is going to be a nightmare. I did the drive from Buckhead the other night and it sucked on a Tuesday without a game. Mass transit will be interesting too as MARTA is currently managed by City of Atlanta and Fulton (with some Dekalb), so to create a good solution they'll have to work with the Cobb County folks. Maybe by then I'll have a jet pack.
 

Fred not Lynn

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Hambone, would you say this project is similar to the development of U of PHX Stadium in Arizona and the surrounding area (minus a generally unsuccessful ice hockey team)?
 

absintheofmalaise

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Details have come out about how this will be financed. And here's my take. Fuck you Cobb County Commissioners. 
 
 
The county will finance the remaining $276 million by issuing revenue bonds. As for repaying those bonds, here are the bullet points. Remember, each figure is the annual cost over 30 years.
  • $400,000 from a new rental car tax.
  • $940,000 from the existing hotel/motel tax.
  • $2,740,000 from a new hotel/motel fee in the Cumberland CID.
  • $5,150,000 from a property tax increase in the CID.
  • $8,670,000 in relocation of existing Cobb County property taxes.
 
So they will be using some of our existing property taxes that are currently used to pay for things like schools, police, fire etc to finance this thing. Off to call the county.
 

Hambone

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Fred not Lynn said:
Hambone, would you say this project is similar to the development of U of PHX Stadium in Arizona and the surrounding area (minus a generally unsuccessful ice hockey team)?
 
That's the impression I got except with more things that you may want to do on a non-game day whether it be stadium tours, museums, or whatever else I'm not thinking of. Basically make it so that in 20-30 years, it becomes an area you want to visit when you come to Atlanta and see the stadium and surroundings - which I don't think u of Phx is pulling off too well
 

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absintheofmalaise said:
Details have come out about how this will be financed. And here's my take. Fuck you Cobb County Commissioners. 
 
 
So they will be using some of our existing property taxes that are currently used to pay for things like schools, police, fire etc to finance this thing. Off to call the county.
 
Yeah, this is a political disaster for Cobb County and I'd bet it will be wildly unpopular.
 

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Thanks to all of you Disney-holics, Orlando has financed a convention center (along with several expansions), two arenas, a performing arts hall and a major renovation of the old Citrus Bowl with tourist (hotel & car rental) taxes. Nobody seems to care.
 

E5 Yaz

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LoweTek said:
Thanks to all of you Disney-holics, Orlando has financed a convention center (along with several expansions), two arenas, a performing arts hall and a major renovation of the old Citrus Bowl with tourist (hotel & car rental) taxes. Nobody seems to care.
 
It's Orlando. 
 

OttoC

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absintheofmalaise said:
 

...On the plus side, this location will still give them an Atlanta address!...
 
Does that mean they will still be called the Atlanta Braves? If I were a Cobb County Taxpayer I might be miffed.
 

absintheofmalaise

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OttoC said:
 
Does that mean they will still be called the Atlanta Braves? If I were a Cobb County Taxpayer I might be miffed.
I'm already miffed, but that's about how they are diverting some of our tax dollars to finance this. The best name I heard floated around was The Atlanta Braves of Cobb County.
 

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absintheofmalaise said:
According to the MDJ, the Braves will be paying for 55% of the cost of the $672 million, with the balance being paid by the businesses in the Cumberland Community Improvement District. If this is true, I feel better about the financing portion of the deal.
 
 
If they follow the Mariners example, the Braves will be paying for it by selling naming rights, charter seat licenses, etc. So I wouldn't expect the owners to be writing $369m worth of checks.
 

Monbo Jumbo

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They're delusional about an entertainment district unless they've also planned on taking the Grand OlOpry from TN.

They're delusional about traffic too.
 

shepard50

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This whole thing reeks of bad poker players, bluffing instead of folding, and now having to play a losing hand.
 
This sucks for Atlantans who aren't from Cobb County. As everyone has noted, the traffic will be a deterrent to attendance, unless you happen to be on your way home to the north anyway. Cobb County has vowed to keep Marta away (and all "those" people who come with it, if you read between the lines). When I was a kid and my Dad took me to see Hammerin' Hank and the Braves at Fulton County Stadium, the fanbase looked like, well, America. Over time, and with the advent of the Ted (a much more family friendly stadium to be sure), the crowd has included more families, more corporates, and well, more white people.  This feels like the next step in the whitewashing of the Braves.
 
This sucks for Fulton County, which is already a pretty poor epicenter for spread out and transplanted Atlanta. The money need to redevelop that land will be huge and will be along time in returning any value to businesses and taxpayers. 
 
And no matter how you cut it, whether it is tax breaks or bonds, hotel levies or whatever, Cobb County citizens and businesses will end up paying for this foolishness.
 
What a waste.
 

absintheofmalaise

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HriniakPosterChild said:
 
If they follow the Mariners example, the Braves will be paying for it by selling naming rights, charter seat licenses, etc. So I wouldn't expect the owners to be writing $369m worth of checks.
The Braves will be selling those and the county will get a small piece of the revenue.
 
The latest is that they are going to now build a pedestrian bridge over 285 from Cumberland Mall to somewhere around Hwy 41. Good thing one reason they are doing this is to make it more convenient for fans to get to the stadium. 
 

shepard50

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It's linked to in the MDJ article and Absintheofmalaise has linked it as well, but just so people see the complete high level economic picture as Cobb County and The Braves have agreed, here it is:
 
 
Atlanta Braves and Cobb County Major Deal Points Summary
 
1. Overview.  The Atlanta Braves, Cobb County and the CobbMarietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority will be executing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that sets forth their respective rights and obligations for development of the Atlanta Braves stadium in Cobb County.
 
2. Term.  The term of the MOU is thirty years, commencing with the 2017 Atlanta Braves season.  The Atlanta Braves will have the right to extend the term for an additional five years through the 2051 major league baseball season.
 
3. Stadium Project Budget.  The total budget for the stadium is approximately $672,000,000.  This includes stadium, parking and related infrastructure.
 
4. Allocation of Total Stadium Project Cost.
 
Atlanta Braves Contribution $372,000,000 – 55%
 
The Atlanta Braves’ upfront commitment is up to $280,000,000 (minimum contribution of $230,000,000).
 
The Atlanta Braves’ total contribution of $372,000,000 over the life of the stadium project consists of $280,000,000 paid by Opening Day 2017 and $92,000,000 (Net Present Value) being financed over the 30year term of the stadium operating agreement, and paid via Atlanta Braves’ annual guaranteed
revenues ($6,100,000 annually), as detailed below:
 
1. Rent: $3,000,000
2. Naming Rights Revenue: $1,500,000
3. Parking Revenue: $1,500,000
4. Marquee Advertising Revenue : $ 100,000
Total: $6,100,000
 
Local Cobb County Cumberland CID Authority Contribution $300,000,000 – 45%
 
$14,000,000 – The local commitment includes a transportation improvement contribution of approximately $14,000,000.
 
$10,000,000 – The commitment of the Cumberland Community Improvement District includes a contribution of approximately $10,000,000.
 
$276,000,000 – The CobbMarietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority will issue $368,000,000 of thirty (30) year revenue bonds of which the Atlanta Braves’ annual financial commitments will cover $92,000,000 of the bond issuance.  Annual payments on the remaining $276,000,000 will be paid
from the following sources (projected totals):
 
1. Existing Hotel/Motel Tax – (Cobb County Portion): $940,000
2. Reallocation of existing Property Tax Revenues (no increase in property tax millage rate for Cobb County
homeowners): $8,670,000
 
3. New three percent Rental Car Tax: $400,000 (to be approved by County)
 
4. New Cumberland Special Service District Tax: $5,150,000 (Consists of approximately three mills property tax increase in approximately the footprint of the Cumberland CID.  This equals about $120 annually on $100,000 market value property. )
 
5. New Cumberland Special Service District Hotel Circulator Fee: $2,740,000 ($3 per room per night charge for hotels and motels in district footprint)
 
5. Stadium Design and Construction.  The Atlanta Braves organization will serve as the design and construction manager for the project.  The Atlanta Braves will be responsible for any cost overruns.
 
6. Operation and Management of Stadium.  Except for the County’s right to conduct a limited number of special events, the Atlanta Braves have exclusive rights to use and operate the Stadium and permit third parties
to do the same.
 
7. Stadium Revenues.  Except for the County’s share of naming rights revenues, parking revenues and marquee advertising revenues, the Atlanta Braves will retain all revenues associated with the Stadium.
 
8. Stadium Expenses.  The Atlanta Braves are responsible for all operating expenses of the Stadium.  The
Atlanta Braves and the County will be jointly responsible for all capital maintenance expenses of the Stadium.
 
9. Additional Agreements.  The MOU also sets forth that the parties will execute more definitive agreements in
connection with the Stadium Project including a Stadium Operating Agreement, Development Agreement, NonRelocation
Agreement, Transportation and Infrastructure Agreement and any other agreements that the Parties deem necessary. 
 
Remember as you look at the figures that they are annualised, based on a 30 year agreement. 
 
This makes me hate the deal even more. 
 
I was looking forward to going to a lot of Braves games when we move to Atlanta, now I don't think so. The drive for me went from 10 minutes to an hour. (I was personally fine with taking Marta and walking the 15 minutes to the stadium.)
 
As one settles into the seats at the new Cobb County Braves stadium one can consider the school system, who has taken these measure to close an $86M deficit this year:
 
 
 

To close an $86.4 million budget deficit, Cobb County school administrators propose shifting a large portion of high school classes into online courses, cutting five days from the school year, eliminating transportation to several thousand students and giving district staff five furlough days.
LINK
 
It all somehow makes the Chop seem even more surreally bad.
 

JimD

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The 'transportation improvement' funding is going to have to pay for an entirely new transit system to move people into and around the ballpark area.  As much as people view this as an 'eff you' to fans in other parts of the area, they are going to have to have some sort of shuttle bus operation from one or more of the MARTA stations.  Cobb County Transit is a rinky-dink operation - primarily geared towards running express buses to Atlanta on weekdays and only a barebones local operation that doesn't even run on Sundays.  There is no way they will be in a position to take on a shuttle operation of this magnitude. 
 

absintheofmalaise

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The nearest MARTA train station is in Midtown Atlanta at the Arts center. They currently have Cobb County buses running from there to here. There is nothing in that proposal for a new rail line. IMO, if they ran one from Midtown to the Cumberland/Galleria area, or anywhere else in the county, they are going to have to involve Fulton County and the state for approval and funding. Probably the feds too. And, IMO again, it would be stupid and a huge waste of money to just build rail to Cumberland. They would need to continue it on to Kennesaw and the northern part of the county. Of course, then we would be getting into the hundreds of millions of dollars just to pay for that. The other option for rail would be to run it along the northern section of 285 from the Perimeter area. Same problems there though.
 
It sounds like they are proposing a pedestrian bridge from the Galleria Mall over 285 instead of from Cumberland. That makes more sense logistically since the Galleria is on the same side of 41 as the proposed stadium and I'm pretty sure that the county already owns the Galleria and it's very close to the Cobb Energy Center. Fans of TWD should recognize it from Season 1. They used the outside of it in place of the CDC. 
 
Here is some more info from the AJC Political Insider blog. One thing he has in there is a reply from one of the County Commissioners to an email she received from an unhappy constituent. They have also been conducting a push poll to see how the various arguments are working out.  And in a "I'm shocked! Shocked that there is gambling in this establishment!" moment. Some well placed insiders started buying up land near the proposed site before the announcement. 
 
 
One measure of the double-sworded nature of the Braves’ move to Cobb can be found in this email letter to a constituent, Leslie McNely, by Commissioner Helen Goreham of west Cobb. Emphasis mine:

Ms. McNely,
Thank you for your e-mail. Sorry that you are so upset about a fabulous economic development for our County that will not effect your property tax bill. This development will provide additional monies for the County and School SPLOSTs  and create a larger tax digest with new development and services provided. Simply said, it adds to the revenue side of the County's balance sheet in a time where revenues have taken a hit from the recession.
Since general obligation bonds are not being used ( homeowners are not paying off the bonds) a referendum is not called for. The manner in which this proposal was handled is the natural way for a large, politically sensitive, economic development project.
I would think that you would have been pleased to know that the Board of Commissioner have the best interest of its citizens in mind and that we are willing to put our necks on the political chopping block so that revenue would continue to come into the county to provide services for all of its taxpayers.
Sincerely,
Helen Goreham
 

absintheofmalaise

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Driving in to work today, it looks like the surveyors have been busy on Windy Ridge, staking out the right of way prior to widening the road for the new stadium. Nice of them to get ahead of the game and not wait for the "official" vote on 11/26.
 

Hoplite

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I got excited there for a second. I thought they were going to use golf carts to shuttle people around inside the stadium.
 

absintheofmalaise

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Hoplite said:
I got excited there for a second. I thought they were going to use golf carts to shuttle people around inside the stadium.
I was hoping for those carts they use in the airport to cart people around who have trouble walking. All those beeping simultaneously inside the stadium would be great. 
 

Hambone

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As long as they are driven by cart girls and have lose enforcement of open container rules
 

Hambone

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More details of the planned entertainment district. Appears to be similar to what Glendale tried to do in Arizona when they got the Coyotes and the Cardinals. Big difference is one guy owned the land and gave quite a bit of it away based on the amount he'd make on developing the rest of it...Oh and unless it's changed, the area around the stadium still sucks.
 
 
The Atlanta Braves unveiled plans on Wednesday for the $400 million entertainment district that would spring up beside the new $672 million stadium that’s set to open in 2017.
 
The district, which is still in early planning phases, would feature a street lined with retail, restaurants and bars leading up to the stadium. A ring of trees and greenspace would surround the stadium and entertainment district, and a small amphitheater would be at the center of the development.
 
Also they have plans to deal with increased traffic by increasing the amount of people that will need access to the nearby roads
 
 
The second phase would include more residential options, such as apartments and condos, and potential offices
 
 
I also learned this:
 
 
“Cobb County is a very progressive county,” said Plant.
 
 
 
http://www.ajc.com/news/business/atlanta-braves-plan-400-million-entertainment-dist/nbyxr/?icmp=ajc_internallink_textlink_homepage
 

absintheofmalaise

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As expected, they voted to approve the MUA last night. Surprisingly, the vote was 4-1. One of the commissioners opposed because she wanted there to be more time to discuss the move. 
 

Monbo Jumbo

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Huffington Post with a good article containing more details. There seems to be lots of hidden costs to the county that the politicians have tried to bury.
 
Tea Party Battles Business Over Atlanta Braves Stadium
 
 
...Cobb County would spend $24 million on initial infrastructure improvements and sell $276 million in bonds for construction. The county's annual debt payments would be $17.9 million over 30 years, totaling $537 million. The payment would come from $8.67 million in existing property taxes that now pay off debt for park projects. The rest would come from lodging taxes, a rental car tax and levies on businesses in a special commercial district around the stadium site.
 
The Braves' initial contribution would be $280 million. The remaining $92 million would come from debt that the county says belongs to the team, bringing the Braves' share to $372 million, or 55 percent of the total. But that $92 million would also come from public bonds beyond the county's $276 million, and it would require additional debt payments of $6.1 million. That would be covered partly by the team's $3 million annual stadium rent payment to the county and $1.5 million in money from a corporate sponsor that would pay the team for naming rights for the publicly owned stadium.
 
Construction estimates do not included maintenance and capital improvements at the stadium. The county has agreed to split those costs over the 30-year agreement, though neither party has released detailed numbers for those expenses.
 
Dooley says all the variables make clear that the public cost is well beyond the $300 million figure that Lee emphasizes....