curtmcgirt

BTW Doraville was never an option. It was always going to be mixed use. Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Nothing that a dime bag of fine Columbian bam-bam couldn't resolve. Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

I've been all over Philips Arena for work. Front and back of house. There is TONS of wasted space there. The workout facilities are smaller than some Snap Fitness locations. The areas that used to house Thrashers equipment, marketing and what not are just dead space now. They could easily remodel the player facilities and amenities one off season, the concourse the next. That flat area near the back taco mac entrance is a complete waste of space.

I live in town. In the past few years I've lived in Adair Park, Old 4th Ward, Virginia Highlands and Cabbagetown. It's more expensive to live in these areas to a degree, but there are tons of amenities. I routinely hop on MARTA at the Inman Park station to go to Hawks games. It's less than 15 minutes door to door. I'd also recommend Decatur, Kirkwood, and Oakhurst. Crime is odd here. When I lived in Adair Park, I was broken into 3 times (once the night I was moving out) and had my car stolen (retrieved a block away). In that neighborhood the crime came from the neighborhood literally across the tracks. That said, crime goes up once school is out. And the closer you are to the expressway, the higher the chances of being robbed are. I don't have kids so I don't know about schools in a macro sense. But parents fight to get into city of Decatur schools and certain Atlanta Public Schools. There are also more charters every year if that's your thing.

I hope its that 1-2% you get a seat at the table,but cant say anything range.

I don't know if this has been brought up or not, but Bud's contract runs out next year. He's likely due a massive extension once the new owners are in place. Can or would he say he won't resign without Ferry?

Rasheed Wallace.....just a jersey hanging in a locker.

To me the entire point of this article was to get out that Gearon and others still want to be part owners.

Just to point out a couple of things. The poverty pimps in this case have a point. Atlanta Fulton Co literally leveled an entire neighborhood. Agreements were made to allow for businesses to go around the stadium but the Braves would continually kill them off. These promises were made again when Turner was built and again the Braves fought off any one who would take "their" money. In the latest round leading to the Cobb move they tried some REAL shady tactics. They wanted to be a contractor on the project AND be the one approving bids. As the stadium is owned by the city, this is illegal. you can't see the bids you're accepting then turn around and submit one. I'm not saying the city handled it the best possible way, but the Braves have had some pretty bad history when it comes to dealing with their neighbors. I do think the city was right to say no to the Braves. But I think they should have worked together on an alternative site. Doing a trade off with the state, GSU getting the existing stadium and GWCC giving the Braves the North Yards site that the Falcons didn't use. If anything the gentrification of Grant Park and Summerhill made it worse for the Braves as the residents now had more politically active and connected neighbors to help fight the Braves. Im a sports and public policy geek. I love how this all interacts.

I think if we have this conversation in the 90's up to 2007 its a viable concept. But landprices have gone up AND people are smarter about how they do business with sports entities. Enough locations have been burned by the promise of "economic benefits " of stadiums. Atlanta Fulton County, The Georgia Dome and even Turner Field promised all sorts of things and never delivered. There are entire academic studies that conclude it's not worth it to tax payers. If you look at the current stadium boom, they're all being built on old commercial grounds. If I could build a "Way Back Machine" I would have put all three on the site of Atlantic Station. GT could have split the cost and use of the facilities. Build a MARTA spur going north from Vine City.

I don't know that the economics of a baseball specific stadium work that way. You get 81 home games which is roughly 22% of the calendar year. With playoffs and exhibitions you're up to MAYBE another 10-15 dates. As a primary attraction this isn't something you can build around. Also due to the nature of the schedule you can't really book multiple tenants to fill in the holes in the schedule. You would need proximity to other attractions to make up the other 88% of the year. Of all the specific stadium types, baseball is by far the most useless. That said, I agree with the Braves moving, just not WHERE they moved. They should have absolutely looked to build near the GWCC campus. That would put them closer to hotels and attractions. Right at the Vine City MARTA line. and near pre-existing amenities.

I also think it should be pointed out that outside of Arthur, Atlanta's richest citizens have no interest in owning a team. Ann Cox Chambers and Bernie Marcus wouldn't even buy a team out of civic pride. Georgia has done a poor job making this a hub for new industries and it rears it's head here.

That was more in reference to the Braves. I honestly don't think a mall is the way to go when developing around arenas. Parks, hotels, food options and tourist attractions seem like a better bet. But then the Dome/GWCC/Phillips are used by so many conventions it can support those businesses. Baseball fields can only really serve one purpose which makes them more of a money pit.

I think bad ownership, years of losing, infrastructure, White Flight, and bad luck are to blame for our city's sports culture. Bad Owners - Smith Family, early Ted Turner, TW-AOL, Atlanta Spirit, Tom Cousins Losing Records - Pre -Blank Falcons, Braves post Aaron til 90. Pre and post Nique Hawks (Babcock through Knight era). Entirety of Thrashes history Infrastructure - Not having a way to get fans to Atlanta Fulton County/ Turner Field. We need mass transit that goes to Cobb, Gwinnett and Clayton that would have been like the GWCC/Phillips stop. Infrastructure - Failure to develop around stadiums. Although post Olympics, Philips and Dome are eons better. White Flight - hits in the years when we acquire teams. No way to build a history without fans going as kids. Downtown Atlanta became too "dangerous" for families to visit. This still rears its head today. Bad Luck - Pete Babcock, Billy Knight, Jim Leyritz

What percentage of capacity is that?