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November 12, 2013

Home of the Braves, Part 2

When I posted my thoughts yesterday, I honestly thought I'd not have more thoughts on the issue. I was wrong. Assuming the city wouldn't play ball with the Braves on control of the facility or possible improvements to the area/transit issues, why would the Braves not look at options?
  • I don't get the uproar over downtown losing the Braves. Downtown Atlanta, absent specific events going on, is a ghost town after 6pm. It isn't like NY or Chicago, which has a vibrant dining/shopping/entertainment/residential scene close in town. That is Buckhead/Midtown and a half dozen other places. 
  • Look at that list. Assume downtown isn't an option for a second. Which of those places is the best place to build a ball park? Which will encounter the least amount of resistance? Which is going to have existing, though overburdened, infrastructure, to support a 45K seat stadium? Which is going to have the tolerance, political or otherwise, to not fight it to death?
  • That being said, I have long thought the area over by Atlantic Station is a more ideal locale for the Braves than the current location. Too bad they decided Ikea is more important than a stadium.
  • I also don't buy the Chattahoochee River as a magical dividing line between Atlanta and something else. Yes, Cobb is a different political subdivision. So is Brooklyn. And the Bronx. If that location were in Sandy Springs or out at Charlie Brown Airport (and still in the Atlanta City limits), would it be any more tenable?
  • The location is 8400 feet from the Atlanta City Limits. That is about the same distance that Hartsfield-Jackson's South Terminal is from the Atlanta City Limits.
Finally, there is this (from homeoftheBraves.com):

I'm truly agnostic about the move. I get to a few Braves games a year. Getting to Cumberland Mall is as much a pain in the ass as getting down town. The upside is that this gives the Braves the flexibility to make spending time in the area of the stadium more enjoyable. Think grabbing a drink before hand or post game. If they haven't figured out how to capture that at the current location in 50 years, they just aren't going to now.
TD 

1 comments:

Extreme Lax said...

3 words - Heirloom Market BBQ - that is all

 
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