Metro Atlantans overwhelmingly oppose the use of hotel-motel tax revenue to finance a new stadium for the Falcons, according to a poll conducted for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Falcons are deep into negotiations with the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, a state agency, about a potential deal in which hotel-motel taxes would be part of the financing plan for a downtown, retractable-roof stadium to replace the Georgia Dome.
Sixty-seven percent of metro Atlantans disapprove of using such funds for the stadium, according to the poll conducted last week for the AJC by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research.
Twenty-three percent of those polled said they approve of using hotel-motel tax money on the stadium, and the remaining 10 percent were unsure. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
“I don’t think public money should be used for that,” said Lenard McLin, 52, who was among 625 people polled. “The Falcons are privately owned, so they should pay for it themselves.
“I live right downtown, so it’s not like I’m going to book a hotel room. If other visitors are here and they are paying for it, fine. But as a resident of Atlanta ... no, I don’t think we need it.”
In the poll, disapproval was expressed by 75 percent of men, 61 percent of women, 59 percent of Democrats, 71 percent of Republicans and 70 percent of independents.
The Falcons, the GWCC Authority and Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal’s office declined to comment on the poll results.
Under the plan being negotiated, the occupancy tax on Fulton County hotel-motel rooms would cover an estimated $300 million of the stadium cost, and the Falcons would be responsible for the rest, the GWCC has said.
The Georgia Dome opened in 1992, and the Falcons’ lease to play there will end when the bonds on the building are paid off. The team has said for several years that it wants to be in a new stadium by that point. The bonds are scheduled to be retired in 2020, but likely will be paid off sooner, the GWCC Authority has said.
In 2010, the Georgia Legislature approved an extension of the existing hotel-motel tax in Fulton County through 2050 as a partial funding vehicle for a new or renovated stadium on GWCC property.
The Falcons and the GWCC entered formal negotiations early last year about a proposed $700 million open-air stadium that would have operated in tandem with the Georgia Dome. But three months ago, the team and the GWCC concluded that the financial and logistical challenges of two stadiums were too great and shifted their focus to trying to negotiate a deal on a retractable-roof stadium that would cost at least $948 million and would be used for Falcons games as well as other events.
Talks continue, and the Falcons hope a new stadium could open as soon as 2017, after which the Georgia Dome would be demolished.
If a stadium deal is reached between the GWCC Authority and the Falcons, approval would still be needed from the city of Atlanta and Fulton County, GWCCA spokeswoman Jennifer LeMaster said. The GWCCA also would need to go to the state Legislature to have its bond indebtedness limit raised, she said.
Edward Lavender Jr., one of the people polled, described himself as an avid NFL fan; he expressed sticker shock at the idea of $300 million in public funds going toward a stadium.
“Nothing’s cheap these days, is it?” he said.
But Lavender, of southwest Atlanta, said the main issue for him is ensuring that the Falcons continue to play inside I-285, and he said he’d support using hotel-motel tax money if that’s what it takes to keep the team from moving.
Susan Hamilton of Lawrenceville said the tax wouldn’t affect her “because I don’t stay in downtown hotels,” but she questioned the timing of the issue.
“It hasn’t been that long since they got a new stadium,” she said. “They probably could get by without it a while longer. This is not the economy to be taxing anybody extra.”
Staff writer Leon Stafford contributed to this article.
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