Posted on November 13, 2013

Braves: Moving to Cobb County in ’17

ESPN, November 11, 2013

The Atlanta Braves announced Monday they will leave Turner Field for a new 42,000-seat, $672 million stadium about 10 miles from downtown Atlanta in 2017. It’s not clear how much the proposed ballpark will cost taxpayers.

Braves executives John Schuerholz, Mike Plant and Derek Schiller said the team decided not to seek another lease at 17-year-old Turner Field and began talks with the Cobb Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority in July.

Plant, an executive vice president of business operations, said the team has not signed a contract with Cobb County but that he’s “100 percent certain it will happen.” He said talks broke down with the Atlanta Fulton County Recreational Authority earlier this year over an extension of the team’s 20-year lease, which expires after the 2016 season.

The news comes as the Atlanta Falcons finalize plans for a $1.2 billion retractable-roof football stadium near downtown, which is also scheduled to open in 2017.

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Bucking the trend of teams pushing for stadiums and arenas closer to the city center, the Braves are abandoning a site just south of downtown that has been their home since the team moved to Atlanta from Milwaukee in 1966. They played at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium through the 1996 season, then moved the following year into a stadium built across the street that served as the centerpiece of the Summer Olympics.

Despite its relatively young age, Plant said Turner Field needs $150 million in routine improvements and that it would cost $200 million to truly enhance the fan experience.

The Braves were frustrated in their efforts to acquire another 5,000 parking places and also complained about the lack of direct access to the MARTA rapid-transit system. The closest station is about a mile away, and most fans who used MARTA took a connecting bus service.

The Braves brushed over the fact that MARTA doesn’t even serve Cobb County, which has long rejected efforts to bring rapid transit to the suburbs and chose to develop its own limited, bus-only system.

The new stadium will be located at the interchange for two of Atlanta’s busiest interstates, I-75 and I-285, and the area has been plagued by major traffic problems for years–despite northbound I-75 being expanded as wide as seven lanes near the proposed site.

Schiller said the Braves plan a “circulator” bus system to get fans around the site of the planned stadium.

“We expect ease of access to be greatly improved,” he said.

The Braves immediately launched a website that said the suburban stadium would be closer to the geographic center of the team’s fan base in the city’s sprawling northern suburbs.

“The reason for moving is simple,” the team said in a statement on the website. “The current location has certain issues that are insurmountable and will only become more problematic over the years. These fundamental issues involve how you, our fans, access Turner Field. There is a lack of consistent mass transportation, a lack of sufficient parking and a lack of direct access to interstates.

“Furthermore, the Braves do not have control over the development of our immediate surroundings.”

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Plant said a major impetus for a move was the desire to build restaurants, retail shops, hotels and entertainment facilities around the new ballpark, efforts that never came to fruition at Turner Field. He pointed to amenities around new ballparks in Cincinnati, San Diego and Houston, along with L.A. Live, which hosts the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers and the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center.

The stadium will be part of a 60-acre development near Cobb Galleria mall.

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Now, the stadium nicknamed “the Ted” after its namesake–former Braves owner Ted Turner–could be headed for oblivion, even though it is newer than 14 of the other 29 ballparks in the major leagues. It hosted the 1999 World Series, 2000 All-Star Game and four National League Championship Series.

“It was with mixed emotions that we made this decision because we have many great Braves baseball memories,” Schuerholz said. “The new stadium, we believe, will be one of the most magnificent ever built. It will thrive with action and vitality 365 days a year, not just game days.”