Falcons can have new building — as long as they pay for it
The Georgia Dome is only 20 years old and just fine as a sports venue. (AJC photo)
This is the way it used to work in sports: Build a stadium for a sports team. Decades later, when it grew old and weathered and shingles began to fall from the roof and maybe the rats began to build condominiums, there would be discussion about tearing it down and starting over.
This is the way it works now in sports: Build a stadium for a sports team. A decade or two later (maybe), when the building ceases in its perceived ability to generate enough revenue for the sports owner, then it’s time to build a new one to make him happy.
There is an increasing likelihood that the Georgia Dome, which opened 20 years ago, is going to be torn down, giving way to a retractable roof stadium. The cost of the new palace: $947 million. This assumes it doesn’t go up (which it will) or Groupon doesn’t run a special on stadium seats and drink holders.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank has long ago expressed his desire for a new stadium, and as a general rule when self-made billionaires express an interest in something, they get it. Give the man credit for this: He’s probably going to pull this off without once alienating the public by threatening to move his team to Los Angeles, Toronto or London, or just selling it to Winnipeg. That’s not an easy feat.
As Blank has said to me on a few occasions about the stadium issue, “It’s kind of like making sausage.” In other words, it’s best to just enjoy the finished product rather than focus on the ugly details of how it came to be.
But there’s something wrong with this. There’s something wrong when a perfectly good building is scheduled to be detonated. There’s something wrong when even one taxpayer dollar – let alone $300 million – is used toward somebody’s football stadium. Do we have other economic issues, or is that all just a political smear campaign?
Blank, like any owner, wants to generate more revenue. (AP photo)
Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against the Falcons having a new stadium. I certainly have nothing against Blank, who has been as strong and beloved of a sports owner as this city ever has had. It’s difficult not to like Blank as a person, a businessman and a sports fan. He is passionate and generous. He is neither a corporate logo nor a buffoon, two things we see far too much of in sports ownership.
It’s also easy to understand Blank’s position on this: He can’t generate enough revenue in the Georgia Dome – enough being relative to the giant ATM-like stadiums that exist in Dallas, Washington and New York. The Georgia Dome doesn’t have enough suites, enough signage, enough martini bars. It’s the reason the Falcons’ overall value pales in comparison to that of other NFL franchises.
But the Georgia Dome is just fine for spectators. It’s just fine for teams. It’s just fine for a Final Four or a monster truck race or a trade show. Nobody is affected by the fact that it doesn’t make a sufficient “cha-ching” sound for the Falcons other than the Falcons’ owner.
New buildings are nice. But the Falcons are a private business, not a post office or a branch of government. I just happen to believe that business owners should pay for the building that houses their business. I know – such a quaint and novel thought.
It’s true that Blank and the Georgia World Congress Center Authority are going to be partners in this venture. But the fact remains that the GWCC would not be seeking a new building if the Falcons didn’t want one. It shouldn’t matter that the $300 million contribution for the proposed new stadium is coming from a hotel-motel sales tax and therefore not directly coming out of the pockets of most Atlanta residents. I’m just as angry any time I travel to another city and have to pay a tax for a stadium or arena there for the same reason.
Too many stadiums are being built today because cities are held hostage by sports franchises — and I say this somebody who grew up as a sports fan and makes their living covering the teams.
A new stadium would look lovely, yes. But the Georgia Dome isn’t a scar on downtown. Other areas of downtown are the scars. What’s being done about that? Would $300 million help?
The building isn’t crumbling. Our priorities are.
By Jeff Schultz
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460 comments Add your comment
Kent Hatterick
April 25th, 2012
10:25 pm
Jeff, I have made a comment on an Atlanta journal article one time in 56 years. I have wanted to respond to what ive heard many times, but too apathetic to actually take action to express my thoughts. So for what it worth, your thinking on the justification for building a new stadium was so on track, I couldnt help myself to not reinforce and support your honest wise thought.
As I think you have conveyed, we may need or want a new stadium for all kinds of reasons we can try to justify, but just because he who has the most money or is the squeakiest wheel deserves the most attention or is the right answer to monopolize what is for the good of all. And in this case, the falcons are important and blank making money is important for numerous reasons, but can we get more as a community to invest 300 mill in care for the needs in the community versus are we really going to improve the standard of living we can get in investing 300mill in blanks needs to make himself money!!
For the record, I am a conservative republican and blessed to have been blessed financially, but I can’t justify the value of spending 300 mill in a new falcons stadium when the one we have is more than adaquit for anyone to enjoy experiencing a falcons game. Especially when I think about what 300 mill could do to help people’s basic needs.
Jeff Schultz
April 25th, 2012
10:26 pm
Thanks DawgIt
yuzeyurbrane
April 25th, 2012
10:26 pm
Amen! How much of the sausage is bribery in one form or the other? I have followed this issue for some time and can count on 2 hands at most the number of comments favoring this handout to Blank. And yet the matter is talked about as a done deal with only some massaging of the details. What public are our esteemed Governor Deal and his loyal State Legislature referring to when they espouse their small govt., pro-free enterprise gospel when gutting public education and other traditional govt. functions which would really help Georgia and its middle class in the 21st Century? It is all empty rhetoric designed to get power and fill their pockets and that of their buds. If Arthur Blank thinks its a good idea for his poor pocket, let him pay for it and take the risk as well as get the reward; otherwise, I can’t print what I think of his personal moral standards except that I would not be as kind as the writer of this article.
Jeff Schultz
April 25th, 2012
10:27 pm
Gretschdrum — Is this the same Kasim Reed who didn’t care about the hockey team leaving?
Tide Rising
April 25th, 2012
10:27 pm
Jeff,
Couldn’t agree with you more on every single point. Very, very well written piece.
Matt "CHOKE" Ryan
April 25th, 2012
10:28 pm
Bat Masterson
April 25th, 2012
8:01 pm
You’re a wierdo, Larry
________________________________________________
Stop blaming weirdos…..Larry is an idiot
Jeff Schultz
April 25th, 2012
10:33 pm
Kent Hatterick — Great comments, thanks.
… By the way, it seems some folks see this as a political issue (as in Republican vs. Democrat vs Libertarian.) I don’t. You either believe in public money being used to help finance a stadium or you don’t. I think there’s conservatives and liberals on both sides of this issue.
Delbert D.
April 25th, 2012
10:38 pm
Okay, the system is broken, all of it. Ga. 400 toll road gets paid off, and the tolls don’t stop. Taxpayers about to get fleeced to keep the Atlanta/Fulton County and GWCC moguls flush with power and cash. And read the article on the freaking front page of this web site about the TSA and a 4-year old girl at the airport in Kansas:
“…the family’s main concern was the lack of understanding from TSA agents that they were dealing with a 4-year-old child, not a terror suspect.”
The POTUS laments that college graduates are under-employed and in very many cases are not able to find jobs to pay off their college debt. How about this bright idea, Mr. President…require all TSA agents to be graduates of a 4-year college. Get some people with an IQ above room temperature in that agency.
up north
April 25th, 2012
10:40 pm
I seem to remember the Atlanta Stadium cost around $6-8 million, when it was built to house the Falcons and bring the Braves here!
waynester
April 25th, 2012
10:41 pm
Ya’ll act like this is a zero-sum game–if the legislature doesn’t vote to support a new stadium that they’ll instead spend that money on your pet liberal causes…hilarious. Pretending that we don’t already spend vast amounts on narrow interest groups(just the ones that YOU favor) and pillorying Blank for trying to make the Falcons competitive and keep the team and it’s employees in ATL is just as moronic. Put your votes where your big mouths are and stop supporting the 2 party monopoly that’s put us in this sorry position to begin with….
Hillbilly D
April 25th, 2012
10:43 pm
Atlanta Stadium was $18 million, if my memory is correct.
You either believe in public money being used to help finance a stadium or you don’t.
I agree. I think this pisses off people on both sides of the political spectrum.
MarkP
April 25th, 2012
10:46 pm
Atlanta residents would get a far better return on investment from a new hospital in terms of jobs, utilities, quality of life, etc. than a sports arena.
Keith
April 25th, 2012
10:48 pm
1st the GD is new compared to many old falling apart stadiums. WHen is this gonna stop as Jeff said in not other business do the companies ask for the public to build their place of operation. the GD was built 20 yrs ago I currently live in the Great NW where a couple yrs ago they fought hard to tear down the cavernous King dome a building that was thrown up so quick it almost beat the amount of time it took to take it down, but it was needed it was not fan friendly it was dark it….. had no atomsphere. on the other hand the GD was build and everybody marveled at it’s sight lines the ablility to watch the game even when you went to the concessions. I agree with Jeff if Mr Blank wants a new money maker I would set a couple of ground rules!
the public can be responsible for no more than a 1/4 of the bill
NO, I repeat NO PSL this is the biggest bunch of BS, ok 1st we pay taxes to build the thing then you want us to pay another 100-1200 bucks just for the priviledge to purchase a seat!
finally every yr every family within the local confines of ATL limits get one ticket to one game, seems fair to me if I a “owner” in this building then I should be able to go to at least one game a yr free of charge
I don’t want to knock Mr Blank but with the current state of our economy it seem if he want a building where he will be making the majority of the money, then he needs to provide the majority of the finanicing, Heck sned all the Home Depot employees over to help!
Tastes Like...
April 25th, 2012
10:48 pm
To Falcons and Blank. Want a new stadium? PAY FOR IT YOURSELF!!!!
waynester
April 25th, 2012
10:49 pm
Jeff
ok–I’m shutting up and just enjoying the non-political luvfest–shalom…..
Moonshine Dawg
April 25th, 2012
10:59 pm
Sanford Stadium and Grant Field are older than the Dome and Atlanta Stadium combined and you don’t hear Dawg and Yeck fans complaining. In Athens, we’ll just add another deck, sell them for $42/game plus a donation and keep on enjoying our team.
Let Blank build his own dome and pay impact fees; OTW go on to LA, London or whereever. College Football is king in the South.
LA Move
April 25th, 2012
10:59 pm
give arthur a new stadium, fully paid, or he may move the team to a billion $ stadium in LA!
Jay
April 25th, 2012
11:12 pm
Question
Let the tax pay for it.
1) What is the amount of money that Mr. Blank is losing at the Georgia Dome?
2) If it is nomial amount (5 to 25M a year) why don’t they just give it to him each year , lets say for the contract to have the Falcons in the city. It probably will be cheaper in the long run.
Redandblackpeachy
April 25th, 2012
11:19 pm
The Dome won’t be torn down until after the new stadium is built. Jeff led everyone to believe the opposite. The new stadium won’t be far from the current Dome location. I believe PSL’s will be introduced to Atlanta.
Falcon James
April 25th, 2012
11:27 pm
I personally think that the Falcon never wanted an out door stadium and they put it out as a publicity stunt. By putting that out first, they got the fan all riled up so they can come back and sound like they be doing us a favor. I agree with the writer on this one. They is no reason to tear down a perfectly good building so that a billionaire can make mo money. I don’t think one dime of public money should go to this. I think this money should go back to people of Atlanta with better healthcare subsidies and program like that.
Delbert D.
April 25th, 2012
11:32 pm
A pox on both their houses!
Falcon James
April 25th, 2012
11:37 pm
I also have one question…. What exactly does “a new stadium would help the falcon remain competitive” mean? Does this mean the falcon will win more games?
Chuck
April 25th, 2012
11:38 pm
“The Georgia Dome doesn’t have enough suites, enough signage, enough martini bars.”
Martini bars???? I grew up in Miami and saw games during the greatest season in football history in a stadium that was already 40 years old THEN and had benches for seats, no parking, no transit stations, food courts, ‘concourses’ and for gawdsakes, NO MARTINI BARS! And I wouldn’t trade a single memory from that decrepit old stadium for the chance to watch another Falcons meltdown in a sparkly new football palace.
The NFL has become one huge shakedown artist. Who needs it?
Falcon James
April 25th, 2012
11:49 pm
Hey Chuck…..For 15 years, I never missed a game at the Orange Bowl. We even were able to hang out on the grass at the front door. I tend to remember about 4 places to buy beer and hot dogs. Those were the best games of my life!!
Hard Working Taxpayer
April 26th, 2012
12:04 am
Build it downtown and you are limiting your target audience – taxpayers with disposable income (i.e., those who live in the suburbs, plus the lucky few who live in town who have money left over after paying Atlanta’s exorbitant taxes). We do not want to put up with the baloney that is downtown Atlanta. Criminals and dangerous youth-in-training who have no regard for others’ life or limb. Loitering. Panhandling. Petty crime. Serious crime. Drunkards. Bums. Wondering if your car is going to be broken into while you’re at the game. Paying to park – $20.00. Having to drive past crime-infested neighborhoods on the way into and out of the hellhole. Life is too short to have to put up with this crap. Arthur, use your own money to build your castle. If you put it close to folks with disposable income, they will come.
Will in Roswell
April 26th, 2012
1:00 am
Yes, Blank is a nice guy, but that only goes so far. Apparently he thinks he can change stadiums as easily as he changes wives.
BW
April 26th, 2012
1:24 am
This is all great speculation/conversation. One, you’re already financing the stadium through the hotel/motel tax that has been in place. That would be “capped” at $300 million. That ship has left the station as people seem to be ok paying existing taxes rather than new ones. Second, the NFL is kicking in $300 million. Finally Arthur would likely kick in the rest….the stadium financing is in place. The only issue is the revenue split between the Falcons and the GWCC. Quit whining about this….our priorities are messed up but Arthur Blank should not be the target due to being a businessman out to make money.
Fats O
April 26th, 2012
1:49 am
Nothing wrong with what we have. Is Blank aware the nation is a semi depression?
rtr22
April 26th, 2012
1:53 am
This is the best column you have ever written
JSS
April 26th, 2012
2:05 am
What “disposable income” are you talking about? Ha ha, you clowns in the mythical wealthy suburbs are leading the nation (I repeat, the nation) in foreclosures and bank closings!!! Stop lying to yourself! Everyone from the Braves to the Atlanta Business Council laughs when they hear someone talking about building a huge stadium or another arena outside of the Downtown Atlanta! No airport, nowhere near enough hotel rooms, and for darn sure, nowhere near any chance of making the transportation situation work!
SAM
April 26th, 2012
2:08 am
I read this acticle and I sit here in awe. The State of Ga and Fulton Co cannot find the money to pay teachers, police, corrections officers,probation officers and other people employed by their agencies, but they can find $300 millions dollars, so that, millionaires can play a sport and a billionaire can have his building. If I want to change my house or add on to it, I have to pay for it myself. I cant call the county and asked them for help, eventhrough, it would help them to charge me more taxes. Can I please get the tax payers to tear down my house and build me a new palace. Well, I say build the Falcons their new house;maybe they will win a Super Bowl, while the rest of us struggle to put food on the table. Eat well millionaires and billionaires. Oh, by the way help your cause and do not be on tweeter texting stupid comments (Roddy White). White catch a couple more balls for $300 million. Hey Turner and O-Line get the fourth and inches, instead of fights at your house and reality shows.
Gritsfalcon
April 26th, 2012
2:27 am
I can’t imagine this requiring action by either the Governor or Ga. Legislature. If they have to approve this, with school teacher layoffs, the roads deteriorating and all the other stuff that has been slashed due to budget cuts, it will never happe!. Can you say, “Los Angeles Falcons” if it does?
Amazing Lizardo
April 26th, 2012
2:39 am
This kind of absurd and wasteful thinking really makes me sick to my stomach. The very idea of destroying a perfectly useful building that has been paid for by a heavy public investment of tax dollars and such makes me angry at best. For Arthur Blank to truly pay for the cost of his precious new building, he must absolutely shoulder the costs of keeping this existing building viable whilst paying for the new as well. He will thus protect the public investment by a community he now owes a great deal to for providing a way for him to expand his profits using the subsidized gift from the public that is the Georgia Dome. Enjoying the profits that an NFL owner does is a privilege that is built on the contributions of countless taxpayers nationwide. After all, we provide the roads and public transportation and many other things that allow him to attract paying customers with ease.
Yes, I realize it is expensive to operate, but this is a blatant attempt to avoid the civic obligation to maintain a building that is and can be useful for many civic purposes-except perhaps ever larger profits for one solitary pro football team. And let’s not forget the cost of this new facility will certainly include pricing the Falcons experience out of reach for many more sports fans, just as Braves games are no longer affordable to a large number of ordinary citizens. The least he can do to make it up to the greater public is this. It would also be nice to offer just a few tickets at affordable prices so those who used to be able to afford the experience can continue to do so.
Just think. A lot of high school football players could enjoy the experience of playing in a world class facility without necessarily having to make the state playoffs. Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Morehouse and many others could also enjoy the benefit-thus providing some relief from such a burdensome expense for the Falcons ownership. The goodwill generated by giving back to the community in this way might well expand Mr. Blank’s popularity well beyond that of beloved local sports owner. He could indeed become a national hero by setting a great example for his fellow owners.
This could also greatly improve the public perception that the well to do simply have no regard for the social contract that has allowed an unprecedented number of millionaires to enjoy the American dream on a level that only a few can truly experience, but a level to which so many aspire. We cannot all win the lottery after all. The benefits for the greater community could extend well beyond sports of course. But don’t get me started brainstorming on these possibilities, there are surely a lot of great ideas besides the ones I might offer-and I would love to hear them!
JSS
April 26th, 2012
2:48 am
Ha ha, it doesn’t require approval from the State. They gave this plan approval two years ago in the General Assembly! What do you people do, spend your entire days with your heads in the sand?
C'mon Jeff
April 26th, 2012
2:55 am
Come on Jeff, you get “angry” when you have to pay a stadium or arena tax? You get reimbursed every nickel of that expense…and every other nickel you spend covering a sporting event (the Mons Venus in Tampa being the exception).
I agree with your position on this subject. The fine folks of Indianapolis are still paying for the “Hoosier Dome” and that stadium was hauled off by the dump truck load years ago. You trying to be “angry” over some tax you don’t pay smells like a Cynthia Tucker column.
Jim
April 26th, 2012
2:56 am
Well said, but power and $$ will rule…Blank will get what he wants. Done deal.
clay
April 26th, 2012
3:29 am
Why not just make a retractable roof and the dome?
A-Ville Ranger
April 26th, 2012
4:52 am
Great article, I couldn’t agree more with every point. It would be absurd to put public money into a private sports stadium in the best of times. At a time when our schools are under performing, our infrastructure is crumbling and the nation has the largest debt in human history, it’s obscene.
Blank has the personal wealth to build this thing, pay in cash and still be extremely wealthy if it’s that important to him.
John
April 26th, 2012
5:04 am
Los Angeles Falcons…..has a nice ring to it.
Wallis the dog
April 26th, 2012
5:06 am
Amen Schultz!
5150 UOAD
April 26th, 2012
5:11 am
I WILL NEVER STEP FOOT IN a NEW STADIUM BUILT FOR NFL FOOTBALL IN atlanta.
rudy
April 26th, 2012
5:14 am
lets win a super bowl before deciding to bulid this stadium, that will help build that stadium…….
5150 UOAD
April 26th, 2012
5:19 am
Ga State needs the Dome. Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic, Chick-fil-A Bowl & the SEC CG needs the DOME. If the SEC wants to move to Jerry World then HAVE the MF at it. Atlanta Taxpayer don’t need a NEW stadium. F..k BLANK and the COONS. Let those A..holes pay for it. The State of GA SUX in education even with the HOPE and the voted SPLOST. Let the over paid Negros and Billionaire White men playing sports buy their PLAYGROUND. I will Go to TECH games and watch SOME NFL on the TV. F…K the NFL owners, players and the Union. Go get a real MFing job.
5150 UOAD
April 26th, 2012
5:22 am
Let TYLER PERRY and Arty BLANK buy the African American playground with their own money.
Save the Dome
April 26th, 2012
5:49 am
I am a season ticket holder and I love the Falcons. However, when the Dome goes, I am gone too.
Go to Los Angeles, Falcons!
April 26th, 2012
6:09 am
Arthur Blank expects all Georgia taxpayers to drop their panties for him on this stadium deal as if they are all some of his female HD employees and he is “in the mood.”
Not going to happen, Blank.
Arthur Blank, meet John Wayne Bobbit.
Atlanta Stadium
April 26th, 2012
6:13 am
Sure, love the club and a Falcon fan since 66, however it ended for me as a season ticket holder in 2011, will watch and follow the team from the sofa, the BIG dome is just fine to watch a game in, but the open air is coming to the A T L
Ellabell 1
April 26th, 2012
6:28 am
Nothing wrong with the dome. If they are determined to build a new stadium – fine. My only request is that they make the seats 3 inches wider. Thank you and may God bless.
EasyMoney
April 26th, 2012
6:34 am
The minority “set aside” deals will be flowing like water when this stadium gets approved. A lot of connected friends of Arthur and the city will be getting very rich from all this easy taxpayer money to build the palace!!
Ronald
April 26th, 2012
6:36 am
So you want to enjoy a product (Falcons football) but don’t want to actually PAY for it?
You guys are OK ith the prospect of losing not only your team but all the other events that help grow and bring much needed revenue and tourism dollars to the city?