The numbers: Braves move to Cobb
What: A new stadium opening in 2017 will seat about 41, 500 — 9,000 fewer than at Turner Field — and have 40 to 45 suites, compared to Turner Field's 53. Preliminary plans show 10 restaurants and 28,450 square feet of concessions inside the ballpark.
Where: Cumberland Mall area near I-285 and Cobb Parkway.
Construction budget: $622 million.
Public contribution: $392 million.
Details: $397 million bond issuance (larger than the public contribution because the county is borrowing money to pay the first 15 months of interest and all borrowing costs); $14 million in transportation sales tax; and $10 million cash from businesses in the Cumberland Community Improvement District.
Braves contribution: $230 million. It can be increased to $280 million at the team's discretion.
Cobb County's annual payment: $25 million, the maximum annual amount the county could make. The exact amount depends on interest rates at the time of the bond issuance.
County annual revenue sources for bond payments:
•$8.6 million: Renewal of countywide property tax levy.
•$6.1 million: Braves rent.
•$5.1 million: New property tax from Cumberland-area businesses
•$2.7 million: New nightly hotel room fee.
•$940,000: Existing hotel-motel tax
•$400,000: New rental car tax in unincorporated Cobb.
Pedestrian-transit bridge over I-285: A proposed multi-million-dollar bridge, deemed critical to the project by the Braves, doesn't have a clear funding source. Also unclear is whether the bridge would add to the county's overall stadium project cost or be counted as part of its public pledge. The AJC has previously reported that the bridge's future is uncertain.
What went wrong at Turner Field
In addition to many neighborhood and parking issues, after 17 years at Turner Field, the Braves informed the city of Atlanta that the downtown stadium needed more than $150 million in capital maintenance upgrades. Capital maintenance is defined as major repairs or replacement of HVAC systems and control components; water, sewer and gas lines; seats; painting, and concrete repair, to name a few things.
Capital maintenance costs over 30 years in the new Cobb County stadium should be no more than $80 million, Braves executives said recently in an exclusive interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Editorial Board. Asked why capital maintenance would be so much less at the new stadium, Braves President John Schuerholz said the Braves’ current home was built “for a 2 1/2-week project, ” meaning the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.
“Turner Field was value-engineered from the start, ” said Mike Plant, the team’s executive vice president of business operations. “There were a lot of things (in the stadium) made for a short period of time.”
Schuerholz on Turner Field's possible redevelopment: "We tried as best we could (negotiating with the city to stay at Turner Field). We gave it our very best effort. We're happy if something happens that Georgia State can benefit from. We all know that they are certainly squeezed in their location in downtown Atlanta and they need the space, and if something like that can happen utilizing Turner Field or the area adjacent to it … I'm happy for them."
