Impetus: Atlanta Braves executives organized, planned and brokered deal to move team from Atlanta to Marietta, completely in private. Admits fear that if the public knew about it, it would have been shot down – which is very likely true.
A notable storyline transpiring in Atlanta these days is that the Atlanta Braves baseball club is planning on abandoning their current home, Turner Field, and moving north into Marietta, where a new ballpark will be constructed. Long story short, there’s a small amount of people, and a whole fuckton of people that aren’t.
Personally, as a baseball fan and a Braves fan, I’m not really for the whole thing. Initially, I assumed the whole news to be a gigantic game of chicken, where the Braves were really hoping the City of Atlanta would pony up some funds at the 11th hour to keep the Braves actually within Atlanta proper, but as more and more news came to fruition, it simply seemed like the Braves didn’t want to remain in Atlanta, and the football loving city was more than willing to show their lack of interest to help usher that decision moving forward. I’m not going to pretend like I’ve read or followed every single piece of information in regard to this story, but from what I understand the decision for the move is pretty much like 99% complete, and it’s pretty much logistics and design that need to be nailed down before this becomes a true reality.
As I said, I feel kind of disappointed that this is happening, because as it stands now, Turner Field is closer to my home than Marietta would be, and personally I’m fond of Turner Field. In spite of the fact that it’s truly in the ghetto, and that there’s nothing surrounding the place of any remote value, as far as ballparks go, it’s still a great place to watch a ballgame, and I have this sinking suspicion that all the value and convenience that made me enjoy Turner Field will most definitely not be the case once the Braves have their new ballpark in 2017 and on. I don’t believe for a second that the alleged “dire need of renovations” the Braves have claimed are legitimate, and were more lip service to justify the need for a new ballpark outright.
Either way, regardless of how I personally feel, what’s done is done and it’s not like it’s completely the end of the world. There are benefits to getting a new ballpark, namely the fact that with a new ballpark comes an influx of projected money to spend, that the Braves have apparently gone gung-ho with, signing many of its current young budding stars to long-term extensions that all but guarantee that they’ll still be on the squad during the inaugural year, which is a nice luxury to have a projectable budget for the foreseeable future.
Also, the reality is that in spite of Marietta now being the opposite direction for me personally, it’s a vastly better area than the current decrepit South Atlanta location where Turner Field is right now. If the Braves follow through with their promises and create a nice destination of bars, restaurants and shopping right outside the ballpark, it could very well be an awesome place to be, whether or not attending a game is even on the agenda.
However, the good aspects are overwhelmingly outnumbered by all of the legitimately concerning things as it pertains to the Braves’ move to Marietta.
One of the biggest issues that will inevitably be unavoidable is the traffic that is going to come into play once the new ballpark becomes operational. With the site of the new ballpark going to be at the northwest corner of the north I-75/I-285 interchange, a location that is notorious for bad traffic every single day, without a ballpark, will become a daily nightmare once the influx of cars headed to the ballpark collides with the existing daily traffic. Ironically, by choosing to move the Braves into Cobb County, the county that is afraid of black people and therefore refuses to allow MARTA into its county lines, the Braves have completely whiffed on alleviating one of the largest outcry demands that people have been begging for, for years, direct accessibility by mass transit.
The other massive issue that has sprung up in light of this news is the inquiry of where the money to build the new Braves ballpark is going to come from? From the people off Cobb County, of course!
Now I love the Braves and baseball, but even I can understand that this isn’t necessarily fair to Cobb County taxpayers. Not everyone likes baseball; I sure as hell understand that better than anyone, because I can’t find a consistent group of people to go to games with as it is. But regardless, I completely understand that it’s simply unfair that everyone in Cobb County is on the hook for a large portion of the funds necessary to build the ballpark, when such a small minority of Cobb’s populous actually cares about the arrival of it.
But it’s the news of how this all got done, that admittedly has me feeling a little bit disgusted. And that is kind of crappy to feel, because it’s my team that did this, and I’m having a hard time separating the players of the team, whom typically are neutral parties from the executives that plotted and executed this shady arrangement that reeks of subterfuge.
Basically long story short, the Braves’ president John Schuerholz did an interview where he admits that the entire deal was done in private, and that news of it was not to be released until it was pretty much done. He goes on to admit that had the democratic thing been done, and allowed the people of Cobb County to have their say, he believes that the deal would not have gotten done, which is probably a correct assessment; I can’t imagine that Cobb residents would have been a shoo-in to fork over an estimated $400 million in tax dollars for a baseball park that the majority of the residents couldn’t give two shits about.
The bottom line is that the people of Cobb County weren’t given more than a sliver of inclusion in this decision, and as much as I love the Braves and baseball, even I agree that that’s well, fucked up. What’s worse is that when residents had their opportunity to attend a venue open to the public, the deck was already stacked against them, and those who tried to exercise their free speech, were forcibly removed.
I understand that the Braves wanted a new ballpark, but it really bothers me in the means they took to achieve it. The way they played this game most definitely stinks of subterfuge and all sorts of underhanded tactics, and I find that ironic, considering as an organization, the Braves pride themselves on being professional, traditional, and as annoying as it is, throwing the word “classy” around all the time. Nothing about the way the Braves got this done is anything of that sort, and it simply put disappoints me. I’m hard pressed to believe that there wasn’t a more diplomatic means of accomplishing this goal, and if it didn’t work, then try for somewhere else; like somewhere MARTA accessible.
In the end, I’m still going to root for the Braves, and there’s a great chance that the new ballpark will be a delightful place, and I hope to see some good baseball games and have good memories there. Regardless, it doesn’t change the fact that I feel for those in Cobb County who are on the hook for something they might not want, and from the business side of things, feel a little bit of disdain for the Braves on the executive level.
