Braves ditching The Ted for suburbs

It does rain in GA, correct? you getting reimbursed for that parking if the game is rained out at 6:00 pm?

 

I read an article about about Pearl, Mississippi (suburban Jackson)building a stadium to entice the Braves Double A team from Greenville, South Carolina. The Braves, unlike other major league teams, evidently own their minor league affiliates. They moved their Triple A franchise out of Richmond because Gwinnet County built them a new stadium. They moved all their minor league teams if they did not get a new stadium. The Braves literally worked their way up to the major league level from the minors in their successful efforts to get new stadiums.

 

This version of the highly-recommended "Effectively Wild" podcast (originally from Baseball Prospectus, now housed a Fangraphs) explains in great detail the Braves repeated and various shakedowns of small municipalities for new stadiums:

Baseball Prospectus | BP Daily Podcast: Effectively Wild Episode 873: The Braves Are the Best (at Bilking Taxpayers)

Edit: And here's the article that led to the podcast episode:

The Braves Play Taxpayers Better Than They Play Baseball

 

And let's not forget the Braves' SALLY team ditching Macon for Rome 15 years ago ...

 

Fourteen.

The reason I know is because my son was born about 2-3 weeks before they started play. And 3-4 weeks before that I started working at the Rome News-Tribune, which means I missed all the relocation drama and vote on the stadium tax and all that.

While looking back it might not have been the highest and best use of tax funds, at the time it was a godsend, not only as a new father desperate for baby-friendly entertainment in a strange town but as a way to fill pages in a sports section that had been centered around a handful of mediocre high schools and two NAIA colleges.

 

Living in a town near the Pearl stadium, that's sort of how I feel about it. Usually when a team moves there's some speculation leading up to the announcement for a few days ahead of time. That the announcement came out of the blue on April 1 was rather weird, as well. Definitely felt like someone was pulling a prank.
That said, I'd have to say that even if it hasn't been good financially for Pearl it's been good as an image-booster. Pearl was (and mostly still is) a shit hole, but the stadium and the area around it is a pretty nice entertainment and shopping district. There's a big outlet mall that opened up the street from the ballpark a couple of years ago and some steady commercial development in the area. As a centerpiece for development and civic pride, it has served its purpose.

The ballpark itself has been a good thing. The state high school baseball championships moved there a couple of years after it opened, and it's been a great destination at the end of the road. It hosts some college games that sell out or come close to it, as well as concerts and other events. It hosted the Conference USA baseball tournament a few times. Jackson doesn't have a modern arena, so Trustmark Park has become something of a multipurpose venue in the summer months. All of that doesn't even factor in the M-Braves themselves, who provide affordable family entertainment and appear to do a lot of good works in the community.
So that's the (literally) million dollar question: Are those benefits worth the cost, even if there's not a financial return on investment?

Also, one thing that probably has lessened the expected tax windfall is that there's a similar (and nicer) area, minus the ballpark, in another suburb of Jackson that's a bit more affluent. That shopping area opened a couple of years after they started to build up the Trustmark Park area and has been growing a little faster. Pearl got an outlet mall, and Madison got high-end retail stores.

 

More Atlanta stadium adventures:

The Falcons stadium retractable roof has had its challenges for some time, causing delays that have pushed the new soccer team to Georgia Tech for the summer. Margin of error is pretty slim now to prevent encroaching on the college football kickoff games and the Falcons regular season.

LEADOFF: Will roof issues delay Falcons stadium again?

May want to hold off on blowing up the Georgia Dome.

I'm sure things will work out. Like having a 3 touchdown lead in a Super Bowl.....

 

German engineering. The best or nothing.

 

Hey, Arthur Blank made his fortune on DIY. Do those panels come with assembly instructions?

 

"Told you so."

-Miller Park roof

 

Montreal wonders what all the fuss is about.