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Thursday, January 31, 2008
Some questions about the Gwinnett Braves
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
How do I feel about the Gwinnett Braves?
Mixed.
My initial reaction: “good for them.” I like going to Turner Field to watch a game, but it’s an expensive chunk out of my budget. Tickets, concessions, parking fees — it adds up pretty quickly.
Throw in crime, panhandling and traffic, and it becomes hard for the experience to live up to the reward.
Having a minor league team in a populated metropolitan area will hopefully alleviate some of my concerns. Better prices and a safer environment in which to enjoy a day out sound like better alternatives to me.
As a fan, I will find it more rewarding to get behind an up-and-comer, someone who “hasn’t made it yet,” as it were.
To me, minor leaguers look like they are having more fun playing the game than they do at the professional level — same with hockey. That makes for a more entertaining contest, in my view.
I think that the Gwinnett Braves can be a more visible and influential part of their community than the Atlanta Braves are in theirs. Signing autographs and actually enjoying people, attitudes that feel more like a day in the park than they do sweating the traffic.
To me, it plucks the strings of the purist’s heart.
I’m not thrilled with the way the “powers-that-be” went about it. I understand the need for privacy when constructing a deal like this. Like many of us, though, I am so used to our politicians acting in secret that I am instantly suspicious of them. Past experience tells me that my skepticism is rooted in good reason.
I read in the news that Buford is planning on a mixed-use development to surround the new stadium. On the surface, it sounds like a good idea. But who profits from it? Do the people who will profit from it have anything to do with initiating the move to begin with? Will it be a case of a few wealthy developers profiting heavily while offering little benefit to the community, building cheap townhomes and sticking them on two-lane roads that were straining with the heavier flow of traffic before they were built?
What will be done about the increased flow of traffic in the area? Getting around the Mall of Georgia is difficult enough as it is. Is more development going to make the traffic worse? This is a question I would like to see explored in more detail.
Obviously, a good time to answer these questions would have been during the negotiation process. Since it was done in private, though, it makes me wonder whether or not these people have even thought this through.
So, I haven’t made up my mind how I feel about it. I guess, then, call me Missouri on this issue. Show me.
How do you feel?
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