The 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 How sad that the Georgia Dome is considered out of date only 15 years after it opened. Can you imagine Lambeau Field or Chicago Stadium ever becoming “out of date”?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?
