The Cobb County Braves

It looks like the Braves are going to pick up shop from Ted Turner Field and travel to Cobb County, of all places.  Apparently, the Cobb County Government offered $450 million for the Braves to pick up and git.  The Braves have (graciously) offered $200 million.  Now of course, if you think that the tab in Cobb County is going to be just $450 million, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you, $20, dirt cheap.

Basically, they tried to pressure Kasim Reid into paying a zillion dollars for Liberty Media's new toy.  Reid said, "don't let the door hit your asses on the way out".  The Braves are trying to spin this as "we simply decided to end our lease" but I don't believe it happened that way.  Good for Reid, he's got my vote in the next election.  Sports teams bring nothing financially to a community, and I say this as a diehard Dream fan.  If Liberty Media wants a new stadium, fine, but I'm not paying a dime for it.  Let the billionaires pay for their own stadiums and let not a dime of the public's money be spent.  I'm already paying for the @#$@#$ Falcons as it is; I would have rebelled if I were asked to pay for the Braves, too.

Supposedly, the lack of MARTA access to Turner Field was an issue.  Well, MARTA isn't even in Cobb County but that wasn't a deal-breaker.  My take on things was that the area around Turner Field was "too poor" and "too crime ridden" and if you can read between the lines in the Deep South, you know exactly what they're talking about.  I'm surprised they didn't go for the trifecta and claim that Cobb County "has better schools".

Well, the Braves decided to meet their whitebread fans half-way.  I don't think it's going to do much for Cobb County.  They'll be paying a lot more than $450 million dollars in the end because cost overruns just mysteriously happen when new stadiums are being built.  If you have no interest in baseball, you're not going to go to Cobb County to see it.  All of the "new revenue" that Cobb County is expecting with their mall will just be cannibalized from other sources - every $ the Cobb County Braves see is one $ that will disappear from some other business in Cobb County.  It's not going to be any easier for some Atlanta out of town visitor to see the Braves than it is now.  How much transit do you think there is between downtown Atlanta and Cobb County?

Good thing I got out of that circus and into the WNBA.  By the time WNBA teams have the clout to extort cities with threats to move, I figure I'll be dead.