Amid Thrashers talk, we ask: Is Atlanta a lousy sports city?
Corporate synergy: Basketball mascot dances at hockey rally! (AJC photo by Hyosub Shin)
Should the Thrashers leave for Manitoba, ours would become the first American city to lose two NHL franchises. Word of the pending sale has spawned yet another round of Atlanta-is-a-lousy-sports-town boilerplate harrumphing, and again I pause to ask: Are we a lousy sports town?
The Thrashers were 28th among 30 NHL teams in attendance last season. The Hawks were 22nd among 30 NBA clubs. The 2010 Braves made the playoffs for the first time since 2005, and their attendance ticked upward from 15th to 13th among the 30 baseball teams. (The average Turner Field crowd grew by 1,685 year over year.)
Of note: The 2010 Falcons, who had the NFL’s second-best record, were 15th among 32 teams in attendance and 19th in capacity at 95.3 per cent. But the Falcons’ average gate was 67,850. Put it this way: Over their last full seasons, the average Braves, Hawks and Thrashers crowds together still fell 6,000 below the Falcons’ yield.
That’s instructive. Since 2004, Hawks and Thrashers fans have faced a shared dilemma: Do I buy tickets and support the team even if it means endorsing the maladroit Atlanta Spirit? Since 2007, the Braves have been owned by faceless Liberty Media of faraway Colorado. (Last week Liberty Media offered $1 billion to buy Barnes & Noble; the Braves’ payroll remains under $90 million.)
My point: The only local pro sports owner who inspires any confidence is Arthur Blank. We’re more inclined to support the Falcons because we believe they’re well run. About the other teams, it can be tough to know. Example: Frank Wren signed Derek Lowe to a four-year contract paying $60 million in January 2009 and was trying to dump him 10 months later. Another: The Hawks paid $120 million to keep Joe Johnson in the same summer they promoted Larry Drew to head coach at a cut-rate price.
My question: If we have qualms about a team’s management, are we wrong for keeping our money in our wallets? Isn’t that essentially what Americans do every election — vote our pocketbooks?
Addressing Thrashers fans, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said on a radio show Thursday: “I understand that there may be dissatisfaction [with ownership] there, but demonstrating your dissatisfaction by not going to games is an interesting strategy. It’s your absolute right. But if it becomes a turnoff for anybody who might want to buy the franchise, the long-term consequences could be severe.”
So Bettman’s recommendation would be to spend money on a bad product just so somebody else might come along and snap it up? In what solar system is he living?
News flash: Money’s tighter than it was in 2005, or in 2000, or in 1995. For a family of four, a game at Philips Arena can run more than $200. (A trip to Turner Field can be done for less.) At a time of lower income and higher prices, the issue becomes: Do we need to go watch this team play in person? For many Atlantans, the teams that meet that criterion tend to be based on college campuses.
Whenever I’m hit with the Atlanta-is-a-lousy-sports-town line, that’s my rebuttal: We might not be the best pro sports city, but we’re the absolute best for college football. All you need do is drive around the Perimeter on an autumn Saturday morning and you’ll see the festooned cars bearing Fulton and DeKalb and Cobb and Gwinnett plates headed for Athens and Auburn and Knoxville and Tuscaloosa and Clemson and Columbia and Tallahassee and Gainesville. (And yes, for North Avenue, too.)
Loading ...In our love for college football, we’re different from Boston or Philadelphia or New York or Miami or L.A. (Among big cities, Dallas would be the closest to us, but it’s not really close.) Our sporting priorities are those autumn Saturdays. As Gary Stokan, the president of the Chick-fil-A Bowl, says: “Our two biggest pro teams are Georgia and Georgia Tech.”
Last year I asked Michael Adams, Georgia’s president, how Sanford Stadium kept playing to capacity crowds in an uncertain economy. “For our folks,” he said, “[football tickets] are second to the mortgage.”
It would be nice if a pro team grabbed us by the lapels and made us care — the Braves did it in 1991, and the Falcons did it with Michael Vick — but that’s the job of the team. It’s not on us.
That more folks haven’t turned up to see the Thrashers lose doesn’t make us lousy civic stewards. Gary Bettman might not be happy with us, but he has to admit we’re savvy shoppers.
By Mark Bradley
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353 comments Add your comment
MitchC
May 22nd, 2011
8:18 pm
Mark, do you remember the Braves 1991 highlight video.. or the original SI article written shortly before the Braves 1991 season, sizing up Atlanta as “Losersville”. Maybe they were talking about the team’s actual record. Back then, the Hawks were decent, but the Braves had stunk for years, before their incredible division title run.
I can’t speak for the Falcons and Thrashers fans, because, I dont watch the NFL or NHL, but.. as for the Braves and Hawks…
In general, regular season attendance at both Braves and Hawks games.. is at best.. tepid. Both teams are decent.. playoff contenders.. but.. in baseball.. we have that team in Philadelphia standing in the way of our deep playoff hopes over the next few years, and in basketball… the Hawks are in the middle of the pack in the Eastern Conference. Neither team, as constructed.. can realistically be expected to win a championship anytime soon.
It might also be the economy.. as you mentioned. It could well be that most people nowadays dont have the money.. or arent willing to spend it.. to see a Braves team that might fall short in September.. or have an early exit in October.. or a Hawks team that isn’t realistically expected to play deep into June.
I think that Atlanta is probably like any other mid market city that isnt.. NY. LA.. Boston.., Chicago.. or Philly. Atlanta has its die hard fans of certain teams, but also has many people that dont show up to games, either because they dont have the money.. or dont care.. as well as the casual fan.. who might go to a couple of games a year.
“Bad” sports town? Not necessiarally. “Tepid”. Yes, that could definitely describe the attitude of sports fans in Atlanta, especially during the latter stages of the Braves playoff runs in the early 2000s, when a lot of empty seats were seen at playoff games.
DP
May 22nd, 2011
8:24 pm
Atlanta isn’t a lousy sports city, but the NHL is a joke of a professional league that can’t even get ESPN, a network that carries women’s college softball, to carry its games. And the Thrashers have been a horrible franchise, from the dysfunctional ownership group to the inept management and coaching to lousy draft picks and trades to the sorry product on the ice.
And the clueless boob Gary Bettman thinks people should have been lined up to pay $50-$100+ per ticket plus parking and concessions after watching 10 years of this terrible product with no improvement in sight.
ATLRav
May 22nd, 2011
8:34 pm
Atlanta is a great sports city. People have to take into account that Atlanta produces athletes that do great things such as Cam Newton, Eric Berry, 2,000 yad rusher Jamal Lewis, Dwight Howard, Josh Smith, Lou williams, Jason Heyward and numerous others. We are a college football & prep sports mecca that per capita produces more division 1 scholarships than any other metropolitan area in the country. It’s easy for fans in the Northeast & Mid-west to cheer for other athletes that come from other areas to play for their sports teams but the true measure of a sports town to me is how many athletes you can produce that play at the highest levels. Cities like Boston, New York, Philadelphia get credit for being good sports towns when they don’t produce athletes. I’m from Atlanta and I’ve visited these cities and have seen their high school and college sports especially football & baseball and they are terrible. There is a reason that Teams from the Northeast & mid-West never compete for championships in college sports and that the SEC is winning and competing for championships in Football & Baseball every year. Just because they cheer for good pro teams made up of athletes that aren’t from there doesn’t make them good sports towns. Good sports towns live and breathe sports so much that they produce the most athletes that play on the biggest stages. Atlanta produces more athletic talent on one side of town than New York, Philadelphia, and Boston combined. The true tale of this is their awful college sports programs.
Delbert D.
May 22nd, 2011
9:01 pm
I would say it is not a top sports city due to a transient population of fans. I’m born and raised in north Georgia, but I’ve also lived in Chicago, Oakland and other parts of the SF Bay area, and the greater Boston, New York and Philadelphia metro areas.
Loserville USA
May 22nd, 2011
9:11 pm
Good question Captain Obvious.
Horrible sports town.
P. Bull Terrier
May 22nd, 2011
9:16 pm
Atlanta may not be the best PRO sports city around, but when it comes to supporting sports in general, there aren’t many better. When you consider attendance at pro, college, high school, and other amateur sporting events, a large percentage of metro-Atlanta’s population attends some type of athletic event nearly every week.
During a large portion of hockey season, I can chose to go to a Thrashers game or I can go watch the Hawks, Falcons, or Braves. I can also pick from UGA and GA Tech football, basketball, or baseball, join several thousand people at one of several high school football games, watch future pro players on a high school or AAU basketball court, check out the next Jason Heyward or Brian McCann on the high school or travel ball baseball field. All of those choices don’t even consider the thousands of soccer games, tennis matches, golf tournaments, etc. that are going on almost every week in the Atlanta area.
I enjoy going to Thrashers games, but with all of the other choices available, the NHL will never be my first priority.
falcon since 78
May 22nd, 2011
9:23 pm
Mark….I know you’ll respond to this. If your employer wasn’t so enthralled with the Bulldogs, Atlanta wouldn’t get ripped like they do. Do you realize the last time that bunch in Athens was the Sugar Bowl v. Hawaii 4 years ago???? And the time b4 that was in 1980?????? If you’d stop throwing the puppies up as the first sports headline, telling me what Georgia player plays on the opposing team and the like the Falcons wouldn’t get such a rap. I get truly offended by calling the pro teams Georgia and Georgia Tech, especially with the way we’ve played since 2008. And don’t get me started on the Vick fans……….I have been a fan since 1978 and liked (emphasis on like) Georiga as my 2nd team. Until WNGC put the lady Bulldogs basketball team on instead of the Falcons DURING THE PLAYOFF RUN OF 1995 AND I THINK THAT WAS THE 49ER GAME TO GET IN THE PLAYOFFS. Sorry, I bleed Falcon red and black and seeing “Is Atlanta a bad sports town?” The answer is yes (until this state realizes just how bad that Athens bunch is).
blazerdawg
May 22nd, 2011
9:25 pm
Agree ATLRav…many more Atlantans/Georgians/Southernors actually play/played organized and competitive football, baseball and basketball than in other cities. We know when a good team or players when we see them and are probaby a little more skeptical and certainly more skeptical than “fans” in another market.. Rust belt fans are cheering for a jersey – but having spent a lot of time in the midwest I can tell you there is not much else to root for.
Kanarstead
May 22nd, 2011
9:50 pm
No offense Steve.B, but people in Atlanta could really care less about Winnepeg. You may get the Thrashers but other than that no one here could care less about the actual city or the few people that live there.
Thomas Brown
May 22nd, 2011
9:55 pm
Lousy Sportswriters city.
SC Ace
May 22nd, 2011
10:00 pm
I say let the Candians have the hockey team. Hockey belongs up there and they’ll love it. We don’t need it. And we definitely don’t need that patronizing commissioner scolding us for not supporting a crappy team with an expensive ticket. Bring back the Knights – they were cheaper and more fun to watch anyway. I think they even won a title of some sort back in the day.
Kirk27
May 22nd, 2011
10:04 pm
Steve.B………You may be ” A potentially happy Fan”, but you sure can’t spell (loose, luckey).
Blondie
May 22nd, 2011
10:34 pm
We are a terrible sports ownership town. Period. ASG is just as bad as Rankin Smith’s family was – and Liberty Media isn’t much better. I would have loved to have season tickets for the Thrashers, but could never afford it until now. That being said, I still went to several games each season, until they kept increasing the prices without improving the team. What kind of ownership keeps applauding coming in way below the salary cap every year? What kind of ownership allows Don “pussy cat” Waddell to be coach because they refuse to pay for a decent coach after they fire their last one? What kind of ownership promotes an alcoholic from the AHL to be head coach? What kind of ownership keeps reducing season ticket holder perks and yet raising ticket prices? What kind of ownership refuses until the last 2 seasons to hold the draft party in our own arena (YEAH, they used to outsource it to Duluth, for crying out loud – because The Dream were allowed to schedule games on draft day)? What kind of ownership doesn’t pay for extensive marketing in a large TV/radio market?
A really really bad one. And I’m sorry, but just like an abusive spouse, sometimes you can’t just keep rolling over and saying “hit me again!” Sometimes you just have to sit at home or go to the local bar and watch your team from a distance.
Coach Grohbo
May 22nd, 2011
10:45 pm
When I travel to cities in the Southeast, most of the people in the sports bars are cheering for the Braves.
When I am in the Atlanta area, most of the people in the sports bars are cheering for the Braves’ opponent.
Weird.
Doug
May 22nd, 2011
10:56 pm
I’ve lived in Atlanta for 3 years and it’s a terrible pro sports town. College football is huge but beyond that, no one cares about anything.
Mountie
May 22nd, 2011
11:08 pm
I can’t even speak that some dumbass asks if Atlanta is not a great sport city? Really c’mon… Sports fans are all great man, whether cheering for football, hockey or baseball… But any city needs a winner now and then, a contender and if that doesn’t happen and there’s no marquee (sic?) Player to at least pay to see it makes a superfan go a little sour… You folks in Atlanta have lots to cheer for… I can’t believe the article even asks the question…
Mark
May 22nd, 2011
11:15 pm
This weekend rally was just a real good chance to enjoy a few cold ones, with some great fans, good bye to the club.
Charlie Sheen Is Right...It's All About WINNING!
May 22nd, 2011
11:19 pm
I haven’t been to as many other cities to watch sporting events as some of you. But back in the mid 90s, I did a consulting gig in Pittsburgh and was able to take in both a Phillies game and Steelers/Eagles pre-season game in the old Three Rivers Stadium in the same week. What I saw and heard forever changed my perspective of Atlanta PROFESSIONAL sports teams.
I kid you not, but when we entered the stadium and began walking around the outer concourse looking for our entry portal, there were CHAMPIONSHIP BANNERS hanging everywhere. And I do mean everywhere. In fact, it almost looked like they had so many of them that they didn’t even have room to hang them all. It was truly stunning!
These weren’t banners like the jokes hanging in Philips Arena (A Banner for hosting the NHL All-Star game? REALLY now….) These were Hall of Fame banners and Div Champs, Conf Champs, LEAGUE Champs over the long history of Pittsburgh pro teams and players.
Now I was born in GA and have lived here 98% of my life and consider myself a die-hard Atlanta sports fan…But this made me stop and think —- Just WHO do we have in the history of Atlanta professional sports that’s in ANY Hall of Fame? Where are OUR championship seasons in this city? If we started hanging banners for anything except the Braves 14 straight Div championships (which many diminish the importance of because they were only followed by one World Championship), how far around an arena or stadium would they hang?
As Mark has pointed out before, two of the local college teams (UGA & GA TECH) have won more National Championships (2) than all of the pro teams combined in this city since pro sports arrived here in 1966. That’s the definition of Loserville.
So the question “Is Atlanta a bad sports city” has at least 2 answers. If you’re talking about the frauds of professional franchises that have worn the Atlanta name, then the answer is undoubtedly YES. In fact, the word “bad” is rather kind when considering there has only been one pro sports championship here in what’s now a combined 151 seasons of play. Several other more derogatory, yet more accurate, terms come to mind….
If the question “Is Atlanta a bad sports city” refers to FANS, then how can the answer be anything other than NO? No other city in this country can claim to have been teased year in and year out by one pro club or another only to ultimately have our dreams dashed, hopes killed and our hearts ripped straight out of our chests more times than us…..Yet we still come back next year, pay our money and get our tickets for the ride again.
We’ve all seen the movie before and we know how it ends. We get dissed for leaving the Falcons playoff game in the 3rd QTR. Trust me, I was there and there was no miracle finish on the horizon for the Falcons that night. We get dissed for leaving this year’s 6th game of the Hawks/Bulls series in the middle of the 4th. I wasn’t at that one….But we all knew how it was going to end anyway.
The Thrashers on-ice product was pretty much the consistently worst product in the history of the NHL for a period exceeding a full decade. When viewed from that perspective, it’s somewhat amazing that the avg home attendance was even above 5,000 per game, much less the actual 13,500 that it was last season. While some of us eventually get fed up and vote with our wallets, there are many more who pick up the slack.
We support our pro teams, even when we get very little in return from them. That’s a pretty RARE quality and it defines us as anything BUT so-called fair-weather fans. We don’t have the dozens of banners hanging proudly like some cities…..But the fact that we haven’t completely run our pro teams out of town, telling them not to return until they get their sh!t together, means we can and should feel proud of ourselves despite how the rest of the country or world may view us.
If the Falcons, Hawks and Braves all won championships within a 2-3 year period, can you imagine how absolutely apesh!t the fans of this city would become? It would be like we were told at the Steelers game: “You don’t just go and buy Steelers season tickets…..You have to inherit them.”
Clay Grant
May 22nd, 2011
11:34 pm
We aren’t a bad sports city, but we are lost as a sports city. That would probably happen anywhere that has added 150,000 folks a year for the last 20 years or more. That’s 3,000,000 folks who are from somewhere else, and obviously many of the 2,000,000 who were here before that are no longer with us.
With it, comes a loss of any real sense of community. Some folks are glad they are here rather than elsewhere, while some others are just passing through. I’m not sure either of these groups are generally motivated to “root for (or even support) the home team.”
This is most of why our attendances are bad or just OK. Sure, having bad teams is part of it — in the Thrashers case, probably a very big part of it. But it needs to be noted that talking about the Braves attendance back in the early ’90s isn’t relevant because that was pre-Olympics and before the major population boom, before the loss of community.
And to say folks show up when the teams are good is also not very relevant — it’s like that anywhere. But when you[’re the 7th biggest market and often in the bottom 1/5th of attendance in ANY league, it’s obviously the market is dysfunctional.
All this said, I agree with Mr. Bradley that Bettman’s comment about fans not showing up was both ignorant and arrogant.
astonished
May 22nd, 2011
11:37 pm
Watching from outside, I feel very badly for Thrasher fans. You’ve had some excellent talent over the years, but the ownership battle and weak team management may be doing you in. The economy has not helped either. I hate to read the comments of the many die-hard Thrash fans who have spent considerable money backing their fandom, put a lot of emotion into their support, and may have their team taken away.
I was in Winnipeg for a couple of their last games in 1996, and I felt the same for those fans. But I’d rather the Thrashers stayed home, because I think with Rick Dudley as GM, they will improve considerably next year and on-going, giving the fans a playoff team. Had this broken Spirit group brought in a Stanley Cup-winning GM like Neil Smith when they had the chance a few years ago and let him do what needed to be done, we might not be talking about this at all right now. And if David McDavid had gotten the Philips teams and arena, this wouldn’t be happening either.
Sports are the only business where they blame the customers when the product is bad. The world gives us plenty of bad news every day, and who can blame the paying public for not paying to be let down on a nightly basis. Bettman, I guess. And at these staggering prices in every sport, a lot of people are deciding between games and necessities.
I really hope that somehow at the last minute, the Thrashers can be saved for Atlanta.
astonished
May 22nd, 2011
11:48 pm
If you haven’t read the comment by Number One Ex-Fan, posted May 22nd, 2011 at 6:49 pm, please do. He sums up the feelings of a lot of fans all over the country. And I wholeheartedly agree with him because I’ve done the same thing he has. But I still defend the Thrashers players and hockey players in general; they are earning their money which is much less than any of the other major team sports.
The Truth
May 23rd, 2011
12:06 am
Paddy,
You are wrong. I was educated at Harvard and I would be glad to tell the weak Atlanta sports writers that Cox corporate edits everything they write.
Atlanta is a great sports town:
- best golfer in history (Bobby Jones)
- 3 time heavyweight champion (Evander Holyfield)
- 1995 World Series Champs
- 1990 National Football Champs
We would have a lot more if the owners of our professional teams had gonads… but they don’t. The other missing ingredient is a newspaper with some soul, some moxy.
Paddy… Bend over.
The Truth
May 23rd, 2011
12:10 am
Bradley spends more time criticizing fans instead of calling out owners…
Mark Bradley is the worst sports writer in America.
kyle
May 23rd, 2011
12:10 am
Lazy writing Mark. This subject has been beaten to death. I expect better from a writer at the AJC.
Andrew51
May 23rd, 2011
12:17 am
@T
Spot on. Someone finally said it.
I don't mind
May 23rd, 2011
12:20 am
going to philips or the dome, but when you come out of the parking lot’s on Hank Aaron DRive at the Ted, I want to make a left on Fulton and IMMEDIATELY go right onto 75 north, but the APD in their infinite stupidity, make you go up to the capitol and around downtown 2 miles later. That’s just retarded.
joemoedee
May 23rd, 2011
1:55 am
Many factors play into this argument.
1. Atlanta is a very transient city. A large portion of the population is not from here. (This poster included) Many people continue to support their “home” teams, thus the huge turn out when a NY team is in town.
2. Professional Sports teams haven’t been in the area for a long time. Many family’s “sports traditions” are passed down from generation to generation. This is really evident with the heavy college football support in the area. Atlanta didn’t get their professional teams until the 60s. It’s hard to compare to Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, NY, etc.
3. Atlanta traffic is terrible during the week and the majority of the population lives quite far away from sporting venues. Weekends, not too bad. So we see a great college football and pro football turnout. The problem with NBA / NHL / MLB… they’re weekday sports as much as weekend, if not more so. Work until 6 PM, try to get home and grab the family to go to Phillips Arena or Turner Field? Not an easy task for even the most ardent supporter. Unless I left work early, or took the day off even, there’s no way I could attend a weekday game.
4. Inconsistent team performance, outside of the Braves up until 2005. The only way you’re going to “convert” non-homers is to win, and win consistently. There’s a lot to be said for the bandwagon fan support.
5. No real “superstars” on well, any of the teams. Star power brings fans. Most of the Atlanta athletes wouldn’t get recognized in Kroger if they were wearing their respective jerseys.
joemoedee
May 23rd, 2011
1:59 am
@Coach Grohbo: It makes perfect sense. Most people from that town in South Carolina probably are from there, where that person in Atlanta is probably from NY.
Also, TBS helped a LOT to garner Braves support across the nation, and especially in the South East. There were no teams down here up until the Marlins came around, so the Braves may not have been “America’s Team” as claimed, but they definitely were the Southeast’s team.
RED DOG 77
May 23rd, 2011
2:04 am
@ Bradley……..Dude, I don’t know where you are from, nor do I really care, but to ask, “is Atlanta a lousy sports town?”…………That Bradley is a joke, and you know it, but you did get alot of “hits” on this story……….Is that the name of the game?……….Better question, “Is Bradley a lousy jounalist? “……….put that in your pipe and smoke-it, Dude………….Regards, RED
joemoedee
May 23rd, 2011
2:09 am
Another point, the Atlanta metro area is greatly inflated in size as compared to other places. The “Metro Atlanta” area is now larger than the state of Massachusetts. (8,376 sq miles.) So when it’s said Atlanta has so many people, the vast majority of those people live quite a drive away from the Turner Field / Phillips Arena area. (eg, Gainesville? Cartersville? All included. 60 and 40 mile drives away.)
kbb
May 23rd, 2011
2:35 am
UGA sells out every game because its in a rural area that draws from ATLANTA along with every other backwater town in the state. Its the banner team for the state. I know atlantans are college football crazy, but in my circle and at my job most prefer the NFL. The college fans are the most vocal so it makes it seem like ALL atlantans are ONLY college fans. Minorities (which make up a huge chunk of the city), certainly aren’t as rabid as others for college football.
E43
May 23rd, 2011
2:42 am
I used to think it was lackadaisical but later found out that lousy was a better word for it based on the contributions of Atlanta natives. I actually ran a study some time back on public area transport systems MARTA+CCT and found out that most people are fans but when asked why they dont attend games its always some excuse.Examples;- The falcons don’t have a contending D, Mike vick isnt a true quarterback, Joe Johnson isnt a superstar like wade/kobe. Spirit doesn’t organize the events well. the thrashers are inconsistent…etc.If this was Cleveland then theres reason for gripe but when you look at the number of playoff teams in college and the pro’s then you realize that theres a problem somewhere.
Murray one of NHL’s toughest D-men – ESPN | Bet 2 Fat
May 23rd, 2011
3:02 am
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Michael
May 23rd, 2011
3:36 am
I pretty much agree with Mark’s take. People around here follow college football with the passion that people in Boston follow the Red Sox, Chicago follow the Cubs, Green Bay follow the Packers, etc. I’m sure that there are basketball teams playing in England and Spain that don’t draw well. But the soccer/football stands are filled all over because that’s their sport. FWIW, Atlanta Motor Speedway usually packs the house when NASCAR comes this way.
Two other factors affect in-house attendance. First, distance. In all seriousness, how many of you live anywhere near any of the pro sports complexes? I live about 90 minutes away. I have never lived closer than a half hour. The region’s population is spread out much more than some of the other big cities, and our mass transit doesn’t really connect everybody. Bring MARTA rails up through Gwinnett and Cobb or put one of the teams closer, maybe like Doraville, and you would probably see better attendance.
The other issue is television. This even affects UGA games for me. Why should I spend so much money to get tickets to most any game around here when I can watch almost anything in HD on my LED-LCD TV? Unless you make way more money than I do, you can’t affort seats that give you that kind of view for UGA or Falcons games.
Most recently I have seen the Atlanta Silverbacks, Gwinnett Braves and Gwinnett Gladiators. The talent may not be world-class, but you can still see competitive sports for MUCH cheaper than the big leagues.
fed up
May 23rd, 2011
3:38 am
Arthur Blank is a director the company that owns the AJC, who employe Bradley & Shultz
Have you ever heard Bradley mention that his boss and the Falcons have one of the lowest payrolls in the NFL. On the other hand the Hawks payroll is among the top ten in the NBA and they have won playoff games over the last three years and his bosses Falcon team hasn’t. Brilliant journalist he is Bradley see the big picture: It’s the Hawks head coach who only makes over a million dollars a year causing Bradley to become weirdly & pathological obsessed week after week after that Drew’s million plus salary is too cheap ..Maybe there are starving people in this world but Larry Drew isn’t one of them..but what about all the money your boss, Arthur Blank, isn’t spending on the Falcons..we all love the falcons and Arthur blank and are happy you give the boss a free ride. Why don’t you get back on your medication(yes we know about that) & work on being a writer with integrity. We know your not overpaid.
Edo River
May 23rd, 2011
4:07 am
Mr. Bradley,
I think you do a credible analysis for a topic that, in the Big Picture, is fairly far down the list on things that really matter, ie, your PhD intro here regarding Atlanta’s justification for its label as a “lousy-sports-city” is fairly credible, akin to my sister’s PhD in English, “The Effect of the first translation of the Illiad into English, upon English literature”. But yours is probably more attractive for cocktail conversation, right?
My reply to your article: “Does it really matter?
Mass audience sports are one of the kings right now in American in producing money flow in the society. Your job, the bartenders in Buckhead, etc. So, for you it is an important subject. But, really, from a larger perspective, does this issue of Braves-Thrashers-Hawks-Falcons REALLLY matter? Of course not. Life goes on. One season is different from the next. There is a new excuse born every minute for either the win or the loss, but as my sister used to say, every plot of every story can be boiled down to the 2 dozen described by the Greeks 2,400 years ago. It all comes out the same. If this is true, Our entertainment tim. our support for the Braves or the Angels or (ugggh( the Yankees is not going to impress God on our records He keeps upstairs. We don’t get any extra points for sitting on our fannies, drinking a beer and eating a hotdog in the stands with 15^20,000 other folks when we could be doing something else, something better.
I spend about 30 minutes reading the headlines and a few articles, win or lose. Of course I am not in your neighborhood any more. But when I was, baccccck when you were a puppy, I went to very few games in a year (most were Georgia Tech
because of family connections) and I preferred baseball because I was usually doing something else during that time around home. Its just not important enough to worry about, until there’s nothing else left to accomplish.
GState08
May 23rd, 2011
4:38 am
@TheTruth: Clearly you have no clue about how urban politics work. Most stadiums, especially the ones built in the in the 80s and early 90s were built in “lower income” areas because it was easier and much cheaper to get the land needed to built the stadium on. It was the same with a lot of major interstates and highways. GA 400 took years to come to fruition because the rich land owners in Buckhead would not give up their land easily. A lot of residents in affluent areas want to avoid the headaches of increased traffic and noise brought by stadiums. Of course this was before the use of eminent domain became popular and allowed cities to basically seize whatever land they wanted. It’s more about class than race (although they often intersect). Poor people don’t have the political voice to stop an unwanted stadium from being built in their backyard. Rich people do.
tom
May 23rd, 2011
4:58 am
With the exception of baseball, yes. Hawks and Thrasher fans need consistent winning and play offf appearances in order for them to pony up and buy tickets. Atlanta needs to lose both teams to get the attention of these loosy goosy fans. Braves fans are more patient because of their past success and a hope for a better tommorrow. In addition, Falcons have proved as of late to be a consistent contender. Of course the open air stadium is one of the most stupid things the Falcon’s ownership could ever do. They will lose season ticket holders. This is not college. No one wants to sit out in the cold and drink beer to watch their team. Team ownership plays into this situation. Hawks and Thrashers owners are disfunctional. Previous GM Waddell would have been fired many seasons ago in another city. What a loser. He helped bring down the Thrashers along with the fans. Just saying!
jerry
May 23rd, 2011
5:44 am
What General Patton said:
“Americans love a winner. Americans will not tolerate a loser.”
I say let these losers go to Winnipeg….or hell for all I care.
Oakland
May 23rd, 2011
6:16 am
Georgia Tech football, baseball and basketball were Atlanta’s first major sport teams. The pros came in on their heels. Georgia Tech went through some very tough times during the 1970s and early 80s. Homer Rice and DRad are great ADs. Georgia Tech has become stronger and ain’t planning on moving.
gtfanfrom1951
May 23rd, 2011
6:53 am
Ticket price, ticket price, ticket price………sometimes the only way to watch as family is on T.V. sports was at one time the poor man’s way to relax but not anymore.
agalucki
May 23rd, 2011
6:53 am
I hate how there is so much support for College Football here. We are a lousy sports city when it comes to pro sports. That and the locations of venues suck. Turner Field has no MARTA station that drops you off or has bars/restaurants/nightlife nearby. Who wants to go to Philips when you can’t go out and grab a drink after?
Larry
May 23rd, 2011
7:03 am
Actually, I look at Atlanta as an intelligent and discriminate sports town. Fortunately we live in a city and state with many, many things to do all four seasons. We’re not shut down by as extremely hot summer or a bitterly cold winter…in other words, we have options on how we spend our time and money.
The truth is we are smart enough to know that professional sports are a highly profitable business and we are the customers. So, if you want my time and money to patronize your business, you’ll have to provide a product that is valuable to me. Therein lies the problem: one championship from the big four sports in 5 decades (thousands of games) is why we have become doubtful and apathetic toward Atlanta sports…who wouldn’t?
For me personally, I have no interest in attending the NBA because I have no desire to spend my time and money on watching a bunch of illiterate, tattooed goons run back and forth trying to “dunk” a round ball in a slightly larger round hole; however, I have been a Falcons’ season ticket holder for over 20 years because of classy and more intelligent players like Matt Ryan, Brian Finneran, Warrick Dunn, Curtis Lofton and now Julio Jones.
Earn my business by putting a good product on the field/court and you’ll get my time and money; continue with an average product and you’ll not get my time and money…I have better things to do!
DMR
May 23rd, 2011
7:09 am
Honestly, this “Is Atlanta a bad sports town?” question is old and tired. This is NOT a bad sports town. Unfortunately, it is where so many BAD SPORTS TEAMS end up. Fans don’t get to choose the owner, fans don’t get to choose management, fans don’t get to hire scouts, fans don’t get to hire coaches, and fans don’t get to draft players. Fans can only analyze the product and decide if it is worth spending money on it.
Before the Braves of the ’90’s or the Arthur Blank owned Falcons and the brief history of the ‘Nique led Hawks, Atlanta has been handed crap team after crap team that was completely mismanaged. Then when the team fails because of lack of success on the field, the conversation somehow always becomes how bad a sports town Atlanta is or has become.
Really? Do today’s Falcons feel that way? Did the Braves in the ’90’s? Did the Hawks during their last playoff run?
The question isn’t if Atlanta is a bad sports town, but how have fans endured as much garbage from ownerships and players for so long?
Paddy
May 23rd, 2011
7:16 am
Harvard, right! You are still a coward for what you posted about the AJC sports writers being half breeds. But we do know you are a racist and seem to be proud of it!
D Keith
May 23rd, 2011
7:31 am
As a native Atlantan and one that supported both the Flames and the Thrashers…the “lousy” comments irritate me. Make no mistake, the failure of the Thrashers lies at the feet of one person: Don Waddell. Yes, we sold out the arena for the first three years because we were so thrilled to have hockey….ANY hockey…back. But after trading star after star after star (Heatly, Kovy, Hossa…) and putting a crappy product on the ice…attendance dwindeld. In ANY city a crappy team is going to get a crappy crowd.
Shug
May 23rd, 2011
7:46 am
There are 0 Southern cities that can be considered “good” sports towns. There’s simply too much to do, including playing one’s own sport, instead of paying to watch a stranger play. If you’re a yankee, what else is there to do except sit around and brood about “your” team.
skydawg
May 23rd, 2011
7:47 am
Or moreover. When the Thrashers did put together a decent team to get into the playoffs, they promptly humiliated the town and then watch piece by piece until the team was so dismantled it was nearly an expansion roster again. Like the ole saying goes, you have to spend money to make money. The ASG never had any intentions of putting any money at all into the Thrashers. So now they get a significantly reduced price tag to sell their franchise. It couldn’t happen to a better bunch of pricks. This town will support any team. But we’re not blind loyalists idiots like many other markets. Fool us once, shame on you….yada, yada, yada.
Buckeye
May 23rd, 2011
7:55 am
Yes
The biggest ( pardon the pun, Nerds, Nerds, Nerds) buzz is uga football who is coming off a 6-7 season and losing to Conf USA in the Liberty Bowl.
If uga football is draws the most attention and blog posts, Atlanta sports is dominated by a bunch of blithering twang-tounged rednecks.
Badgerina
May 23rd, 2011
8:03 am
I think this could be a great sports town. I believe what has held us back is lousy teams. The Falcons have produced more bad seasons than good. The Hawks just disappoint, i.e., this past season (how many games did they play where they didn’t care?). The Braves do get support because they win. Although that support is weening.
I think it comes down to owner’s who care and winning.