Late last year it came out that the Atlanta Braves will be moving from downtown Atlanta and Turner Field, that was originally built for the 1996 Olympics, to Cobb County, Georgia, aka The Suburbs. This week, some new photos were unveiled of the proposed stadium and it's pretty awesome.
The move is important for several reasons. One, downtown Atlanta is not exactly what one would call a safe place, especially at night. Also, attendance has dropped off for the Braves, who let's be honest, are The South's baseball team, largely due to the fact that it's so difficult to get to the stadium and home in a safe and timely manner.
The stadium appears to have several restaurants that patrons can enjoy, including Chop House and I kid you not, Waffle House. While that might seem like a surprise to some, Waffle House currently serves its customers at Turner Field.
I also wasn't aware Waffle House is open 24 hours. I thought it was just open between midnight and 4am on the weekends. You learn something new everyday.
The move is smart for several reasons, two of which I already mentioned, but also because the vast majority of Braves patrons live on the outskirts of Atlanta (the heaviest concentration of which is in Cobb County) and the new location will make the park much more accessible to baseball fans.
My city was looking to put a baseball stadium downtown on the river and the Braves were interested in helping to finance and put an organization in town. The local officials (people that hate baseball) decided to put the vote for a small tax on the primary ballot in 2012, one which they knew would be heavily Republican dominated (since the Democrats running for most offices were incumbents and therefore wouldn't have as large of a voter turnout) and would likely fail. So, we don't get baseball (yet) or economic growth that would greatly help improve the downtown Wilmington area, because of local politics.
Cheers to the Braves though for making baseball more accessible to the masses. I just hope Wilmington works to get a team soon.
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