A new stadium for the Falcons?
August 14, 2007 at 4:04 pm by Scott Freeman in News, SportsThe door has officially opened to fulfill Arthur Blank’s greatest wish. No, not the return of Michael Vick. But a new, state-of-the-art football stadium.
The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that the Georgia World Congress Center Authority has issued a request for proposals for a consultant who will put together a master plan for the publicly owned property around the CNN Center.
The [GWCCA] may well go for an entirely new dome, according to a request for proposals for a consultant to put together the master plan. The process will include the Georgia Dome, the Georgia World Congress Center and Centennial Olympic Park.
The consultants, once chosen, will evaluate the 200-acre campus to see how, “looking forward, we can best serve our state and community as an economic generator,” said Katy Pando, a spokesperson for the GWCC Authority, a state-run agency that oversees the management of the three facilities.
She said that the needs of customers — such as Blank — will be taken into consideration during the process.
Of course, what Blank wants most is a new stadium chock full of luxury boxes. How sad that the Georgia Dome is considered out of date only 15 years after it opened. Can you imagine Lambeau Field or Chicago Stadium ever becoming “out of date”?
The paper reports that several alternatives are discussed in the request for proposals: building a new dome, renovating the existing dome, or retrofitting the dome with a “moving roof.”
Blank is already on record as saying the team will need a new stadium within a decade, which would coincide with the date the bonds that financed the Georgia Dome will be paid off. And, considering the time it takes to build a stadium, he wants to get started with planning a new facility sooner rather than later.
The big questions are who will pay for a new stadium? And how much will it cost?
The San Diego Chargers want to build a new $800 million stadium. The team says it plans to finance the project through developing the area around the new stadium with housing and retail space.
The majority of new football and baseball stadiums over the past 15 years have been financed largely through public money, however, with the teams often kicking in a third of the costs. But with public officials sometimes balking at the enormous price tags for stadiums, NFL teams have begun to pick up more of the costs in exchange for also picking up a larger share of the profits.
For example, a new stadium is underway in Arlington, Texas, for the Dallas Cowboys at the whopping cost of $1 billion. About $325 million of that is coming from the city, with the rest being footed by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
Do the Falcons need a new stadium? And are you willing to foot the bill?
August 14th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
I am down with that plan, dog, as long as Dad … I mean Mr. Blank … makes room for a dog pit. And, by the way, I am not taking the plea bargain. OK?
April 3rd, 2008 at 2:03 pm
the new stadium will be built at the doraville gm plant model creation of the new stadium is awesome.
July 7th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
Absolutely no to a new dome. I still don’t understand why we needed a dome in the first place. Let’s go back to playing real freaking football in the elements. Retractable roofs aren’t much better either. I would be willing to pay for an open air stadium that seats around 75-80,000 people. The gameday atmosphere at the Dome is so dead.