On a Colorado getaway, Billy Payne got word late in the day Monday about the imminent desertion of Turner Field, the house built upon the bones of his Olympic dream.
The news did not seem to sour his trip in the slightest.
“I never measured the success of the Olympics by the venues left behind,” said the man who conceived the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The stadium that served as the hub of those Games was reconfigured into a new home for the Braves — Turner Field — the following year.
“The most important venue and the one that most represents the spirit of the Games is Centennial Olympic Park. Beyond that, I never thought about any legacy value (in the buildings from Atlanta’s Games) because that’s not why I did it,” Payne said.
Lest anyone get the wrong idea where his sentiments lie, he added, “Bricks and mortar are not that important.”
Payne was, in a way, a birth parent of Turner Field. As the man who conjured from nothing the idea of bringing the Centennial Games to the American South, and the one who led the charge to deliver on that outlandish notion, Payne was the spark for everything that spun off thereafter.
On July 19, 1996, Payne was at his post inside Centennial Olympic Stadium — capacity 83,000 — when the pickups rolled, the speechifying echoed from the Downtown Connector around the globe and the world’s athletes marched in, all part of the Opening Ceremonies.
The one moment above all else that took place inside the Olympic main stage/track-and-field venue most resonated with the president and CEO of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games occurred at the conclusion of that first night. It was that of former boxing great Muhammad Ali, appearing as if a vision, taking the Olympic torch from swimming icon Janet Evans and with trembling hand lighting the fuse on the caldron above the stadium. Ali’s materialization that night set off the gasp heard ’round the world. And the lack of any marker or plaque at the spot where that occurred is “something that’s missing,” Payne conceded.
It always was the ideal of the Olympics that appealed more to Payne than the concrete.
Once the Games were done, it was time to gouge into ribs of the Olympic Stadium, take it in considerably and turn it into a baseball field. Renamed for former team owner and media mogul Ted Turner, the ballpark housed the Braves for the last nine of their run of 14 consecutive division titles. The team announced Monday that it plans to leave Turner Field for newer digs in Cobb County in 2017.
Payne had no trouble letting go of the memories of the Olympic Stadium, nor, he said, did he retain any twinges of a connection to the park that replaced it. After all, he said, “In its current configuration it was barely recognizable as the Olympic Stadium.” He had no more paternalist feelings for Turner Field than he did the gold-domed Capitol building down the street.
It was time to move on. Payne has gone on to other tasks — he is the chairman at the Augusta National Golf Club and the leader of the Masters golf tournament. The caldron still stands just north of Turner Field. The fate of the stadium is most uncertain.
The last time Payne remembered being at Turner Field it wasn’t to see the Braves play, but rather to celebrate a granddaughter’s birthday. Other than one week in April in Augusta, Payne said he makes little effort to attend live sporting events.
Surprised as anyone else to hear that the Braves had so quietly plotted this move to Cobb, Payne acknowledged he didn’t know enough about the details of the deal to have much of an opinion about it one way or the other.
However, it did raise an interesting possibility for someone who shared a past with Turner Field while also making his mark by optimistically looking forward.
“The new park will be about five minutes from my (Atlanta) home. Maybe I’ll go to more games,” Payne said.
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