Atlanta Braves planning new suburban stadium in 2017

5teamparlay · Nov 12, 2013

http://www.sj-r.com/breaking/x825430282/Atlanta-Braves-planning-new-suburban-stadium-in-2017

[h=3]Atlanta Braves planning new suburban stadium in 2017[/h]

[h=3]In this March 29, 1997 file photo, fans fill the stands as the Atlanta Braves play an exhibition game against the New York Yankees in the first baseball game ever played at Turner Field in Atlanta. The Atlanta Braves are leaving Turner Field and moving into a new 42,000-seat, $672 million stadium complex in Cobb County in 2017. Braves executives John Schuerholz, Mike Plant and Derek Schiller said Monday, Nov. 11, 2013, that the team decided not to seek another 20-year lease at Turner Field and began talks with the Cobb Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority in July.(AP Photo/Ric Feld, File)[/h]

ATLANTA -- The Braves announced Monday they are leaving Turner Field and moving into a new 42,000-seat, $672 million stadium about 10 miles from downtown in 2017.
Atlanta's mayor said the city wasn't willing match an offer from suburban Cobb County worth $450 million in taxpayer funding. 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, the executive vice president of business operations, said the team has not signed a contract with Cobb County, but 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 stunning news came as the NFL's Atlanta Falcons finalize plans for a new $1.2 billion retractable roof stadium near downtown, which is also scheduled to open in 2017.
"We started looking at our future way back in 2005," Plant said. "We recognized some of the challenges the current site held for us and we recognized some of the opportunities that we were going to pursue to enhance those."
Mayor Kasim Reed said the city simply didn't have the funding to match Cobb County's offer.
"We have been working very hard with the Braves for a long time, and at the end of the day, there was simply no way the team was going to stay in downtown Atlanta without city taxpayers spending hundreds of millions of dollars to make that happen," he said in a statement. "It is my understanding that our neighbor, Cobb County, made a strong offer of $450 (million) in public support to the Braves and we are simply unwilling to match that with taxpayer dollars."
Schiller, the executive vice president of sales and marketing, declined to reveal how much taxpayers will be responsible for, saying that information as well as the length of the new lease will be made public soon. The Cobb Marietta authority will own the stadium, with construction scheduled to begin sometime next summer. The team would be responsible for any cost overruns.
The Braves immediately launched a website that said the new stadium would be closer to the geographic center of the team's fan base in the sprawling northern suburbs.

Read more: http://www.sj-r.com/breaking/x82543...ng-new-suburban-stadium-in-2017#ixzz2kPO9081j

Ilovetobet · Nov 12, 2013

Sounds like a great plan

PatsFanatic · Nov 12, 2013

unreal that they need to move out of a ballpark built 20 years ago.

450 million in taxpayers $ lolololol

Illini · Nov 12, 2013

PatsFanatic said:
unreal that they need to move out of a ballpark built 20 years ago.

450 million in taxpayers $ lolololol

Oh, but the economy is so good and the future is so bright.

TyBounce · Nov 12, 2013

PatsFanatic said:
unreal that they need to move out of a ballpark built 20 years ago.

450 million in taxpayers $ lolololol

Not only that , but the Falcons are leaving the Georgia Dome. The Georgia dome was built just prior to the 96 olympics and now the Falcons want something else.

5teamparlay · Apr 26, 2014

http://www.13wmaz.com/story/sports/...to-know-about-the-braves-new-stadium/8095501/

<section class="storytopbar-bucket story-headline-module" id="module-position-NJhOx3y6jxE">[h=1]5 things to know about the Braves' new stadium[/h]</section><section class="storytopbar-bucket priority-asset-module" id="module-position-NJhOx3yDevA"></section><section class="storytopbar-bucket story-byline-module" id="module-position-NJhOx3zsU4o"> WXIA 12:18 p.m. EDT April 24, 2014
</section>

Replay

Last Slide

11Alive was given exclusive access to join Braves officials in the Bronx and record their behind-the-scenes tour of Yankee Stadium. This is what it looks like when big business embarks on a big project. Here are five things we can say about the Braves' new stadium, from what it will require, to how it might look, to what hurdles its leaders will face.
The home of baseball's most storied franchise played host to a full batting order of Atlanta executives.
"This is a baseball monument, a baseball museum, even though it's a ballpark," Braves President John Schuerholz said.
The first thing we learned: this was far from their only tour.
This is a map of stadiums and arenas Braves officials have already visited. On this day, by the time we saw them in the Bronx, they had already spent the morning in Manhattan at Madison Square Garden.
"Here in the Bronx, Yankee Stadium, this feels very authentic to New York and the Yankees," Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing Derek Schiller said. "There are bunch of things of how they fit into the environment and be authentic to their region."
What floored everyone on this tour? How the Yankees endlessly, all over the park, honor their tradition. The Braves may not have 27 World Series titles, but they have been around long enough for plenty of history. The team has hired an archivist to help celebrate that history at the new park.
Officials also learned another way they want their new park to be different from Turner Field.
Earl Santee has designed 18 Major League ballparks and will be working with the Braves on the new stadium.
"(Yankee Stadium) is physically a big building," Santee said. "The seats are pretty far away from the field, so I think the idea of intimacy, we're trying to bring that back to fans who watch the Braves."
We're told you can expect fewer seats overall but a greater emphasis on premium seats. They should all be closer to the field.
The one other lesson these tours have taught the Braves?
"We have to be authentic to Atlanta," Schiller said.
Unfortunately no one with the team could quite say what that means … except for the stadium's architect.
"I think we're trying to find a way that embraces more of the Southeast region architecture-wise," Santee said. "So if we have folks coming from Charleston, they feel like they belong."
But the final point is all about time:
"We have the timeline in front of us," Schuerholz said. "We're going to follow it."
The Braves will start building the stadium less than two years before it opens. They will have to decide early if they can get it done, or if they need to renew their lease at Turner Field. But every official reinforced: the new park will be ready.
"We're going to open baseball in our new stadium in April 2017. That's what we're going to do," Schuerholz added.

donkeybucks · Apr 26, 2014

I heard nothing but negative comments when this idea first came about. Too far from the city, bad for business in town.

Would like to hear from people on here who live in the area and what they think.