If you're anything like me you've probably sipped a few $10 beers at Turner Field and pondered what the Atlanta Braves will do for a new stadium in 2036.
Credit: George Mathis
Credit: George Mathis
One recent sweltering evening, as the home team was losing by a touchdown, my mind drifted like a texting I-285 driver. I did a little smartphone research and concluded the Braves, since they acquired the name in 1912 in Boston, swap stadiums every 21 years or so (and cities every 35).
Stick with me while I recant a bit of history.
- Turner Field has been the home of the Braves since 1997 - 19 seasons. For many years it was the home of some fine baseball, but Turner Field will go down in history as one of only two stadiums where the team didn't win a World Series.
- The Braves played at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium from 1966 to 1996 -- 30 seasons. The Braves won the World Series in 1995.
- Milwaukee County Stadium was home for 12 seasons (1953-1965). The Milwaukee Braves won the World Series in 1957.
- The Braves stayed longest at Braves Field in Boston (1915-1952), where the team spent 37 seasons. Despite the long stay, the only team to win a World Series there was the Boston Red Sox.
- The newly minted "Braves" played only three seasons at Boston National League Baseball Park (1912-1914). The Boston Braves won the World Series in their final year there. I don't see a similar miracle happening this year at The Ted.
After reviewing all of that, do you think the Braves will last 20 years at still-under-construction SunTrust Park in Cobb County?
Not a chance. That's why we've got to start thinking about how the public is going to help pay for new sports venues now.
Those unfamiliar with stadium funding history are doomed to repeat it, which is why I envision the following $10 beer-fueled scenario.
Sometime in the 2020s, a resurgent Georgia Gov. Tim Lee will convince the Georgia Legislature to amend a Zika-prevention funding bill to include $1 billion for Georgia to host the 2036 Olympic Games.
Now, $1 billion may sound like a lot, but the next new stadium -- "Bread and Circuses Field" -- is going to cost way more than that.
That's where local government -- say Gwinnett County -- comes in.
Brian McCann, former Braves catcher and future mayor of Duluth, convinces Gwinnett to provide property for a new state-of-the-art (at the moment) facility. McCann also leads the marketing effort for a "special-purpose local-option sales tax" to build a new I-85 to I-20 toll road that includes a tunnel through Stone Mountain. To pick up needed political support the tunnel promises to obliterate the Confederate Memorial Carving.
The Falcons get wind of the windfall and want a piece of the action too.
The public realizes the only way to keep the Falcons from winging it to Oklahoma City is to fund a Home Depot gift card big enough to build "Blank Check Dome" on the final patch of unincorporated soil in south Fulton County. And don't forget the new Sweetwater MARTA line.
Sounds far-fetched doesn't it? Or does it? In the future, $1 billion is chump change.
The public will finance more than half a billion for SunTrust Park and Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Taxpayers contributed $1 billion to the 1996 Olympic Games, which provided Turner Field.
The 2016 Olympic Games kick off Friday in Brazil. Billions have been spent in "legacy" infrastructure projects, but some of the facilities have collapsed or been deemed unfit for human occupation.
Will the Olympics ever return to Atlanta?
According to Christopher Gaffney, a senior research fellow at the University of Zürich, “Wherever we see an educated population that has a relatively free press, relatively high levels of governmental transparency, and that has put it up for a referendum, in every one of those cases we have seen the Olympics be rejected. Without exception.”
If the Olympics return to Georgia we won't get to vote on it. But hey, we're used to it.
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