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Permalink Reply by michael schwartz (71) on November 11, 2013 at 10:11pm

This is seemingly a serious (attempt to) move by the Braves. However, I have a buddy who lives in Smyrna, Cobb County, less than three miles from the proposed site of the new ballpark, who is skeptical. He is not willing, nor would I expect many other residents of Cobb County will be, to cough up one penny of taxes to help build a ballpark for the Braves. He also reminds me that the traffic at the junction of the I-285 beltway and I-75, near or at the ballpark site,is horrendous a lot of the time, as I can testify to from personal experience. My friend wonders if this all isn't a ploy by the team to force Atlanta's hand into giving them more concessions for a new or renovated ballpark at the current site of Turner Field. Who knows? It'll be fun to watch this one unfold.

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Permalink Reply by Kris (30/32) on November 13, 2013 at 4:34pm

Its not speculation or a ploy to extort the city of Atlanta. It's a done deal. They held a press conference on Monday. It will open in 2017. They claim that Turner is in need of upwards of $200 million in renovations and that is apparantly the same amount they are putting into this new stadium. Cobb County is reportedly forking over $450 million. The total cost is expected to be $672 million. It will be open air and approximately 42, 000 seats. The team has plans for developing the area around the new stadium. The mayor of Atlanta has already wished them well and its been announced that Turner will be demolished once the Braves leave.

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Permalink Reply by michael schwartz (71) on November 17, 2013 at 10:34pm

This is absolutely amazing. If the county officials anywhere else but in the deep South summarily told the residents they were putting them in hock for almost a half-billion dollars to build a baseball park for private owners, the citizens would be marching in the streets with torches and pitchforks. Are the folks in the old Confederacy such utter sheep that they will quietly acquiesce to such an expense with hardly a whimper?

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Permalink Reply by John (20 current MLB/11 old MLB) on November 22, 2013 at 6:41am

Here's an artist's rendering of the new park.

Looks pretty nice but I don't know what is there now so are all of the buildings to the left of the stadium in the illustration going to be new and part of the grounds?

I dig the trees beyond the outfield - it looks like it will give it a woodsy look. Not sure where all the parking is however...

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