Their first move was from Boston to Milwaukee. They soon traveled down south, where they made Atlanta their home. Now, the Braves are packing their bags again. This time they are staying extremely close, relocating to Cobb County, a suburb of Atlanta.
The news came as a surprise to everyone: baseball insiders, Braves fans and the city government of Atlanta alike. The Braves moved into their current stadium in 1997. Turner Field was originally built for the 1996 Summer Olympics to hold track and field events, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies. The stadium was constructed in such a way as to convert it into a baseball field afterwards, and following the summer games, the Braves signed a 20-year lease to call Turner Field home. With the contract set to expire after 2016, the Braves wanted a more lucrative position.
As Rembert Browne at Grantland points out, Cobb County residents purchase more tickets than the citizens of the city proper. Atlanta has seen many of its citizens move to the suburbs in the past decades, and Cobb County has been at the center of the expansion. Cobb, which sits northwest of Atlanta’s Fulton County, also has a higher per capita income, which helps explain the higher ticket sales.
Nevertheless, Turner Field is a relatively modern, well-kept facility that attracts large attendance. Unlike the homes of the Rays and Athletics, two teams who desperately need stadium upgrades, the Braves ballpark is not considered out-of-date or unsightly. Back in Boston, the Braves were always the second team in town and never drew large crowds. Attendance increased following their move to Milwaukee, where they enjoyed the league’s best attendance for the first six years in the Midwest. After numbers decreased they moved to Atlanta in 1966. In recent years, the team has been successful on the field, but has had largely average attendance.
Even with two teams in Florida, the Braves are the South’s team; residents from a large collection of states root for the Braves. For years, their games were broadcast on TBS, a station owned by magnate Ted Turner, who also owns the Braves and is the namesake of the stadium. This national availability made them appealing to baseball fans in areas without professional teams. However, it also deterred fans from enjoying the action at the ballpark.
For years, a major complaint about Turner Field was a lack of adequate parking. Even with the public transportation provided by the city, the 8,500 spaces have not been enough for all the fans’ cars, even when the stadium was under capacity. Reports have said that the new stadium will have even fewer parking spaces, a move that, at first, makes no sense. However, consider this: the proposed stadium will attract fans from further limits of Georgia and the county hopes to grow local businesses by having cars parked elsewhere in the area.
After 20 years of service to the Braves, Turner Field will be demolished after the 2017 season. Located on 755 Hank Aaron Drive (Aaron drove 755 baseballs for homeruns in his career), it has housed a dominant team that won many consecutive division titles. The Braves won the 1995 World Series at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium but have not returned to the same glory since moving into the Ted, despite their regular season success.
The short move will be denied its due significance by the media until Cobb County’s stadium starts to pay off for the team. Turner is the first of the modern stadiums to go, and that decision remains controversial.
