February 19, 2007
Falcons owner: Can we go back for seconds yet?
Atlanta Falcons owner (and billionaire Home Depot co-founder) Arthur Blank says he wants - wait for it - a new stadium to replace the Georgia Dome, which is all of 15 years old. Blank's reasons? Let us count the ways:
- "The Dome is a fine place to play football but it was built in 1992 and domes tend to age more quickly than other stadiums."
- "In order for us to continue to field a competitive team, we will need some short-term revenue opportunities to continue to develop for us and some long-term resolutions."
- "My view is we would start out by doing what we always do, by talking to the fans ... about the kind of stadium they would like to see us build."
The obsolescence claim, the "we can't compete" claim, selling it as a fait accompli (note that Blank didn't say he'd talk to the fans about whether they would like a new stadium) - yeah, that runs through most of the stadium playbook.
The Falcons lease expires when the bonds for the Georgia Dome are paid off, which Blank says could be as soon as 2014 or 2015. No word on who'd pay for building a new stadium, though presumably it would be "uncompetitive" for the Falcons to do so.
Classic. I still defend the soccer stadiums (and the cheaper baseball stadiums) on utility grounds, but these NFL stadium games are so obnoxious.
Posted by Thomas on February 20, 2007 11:23 AM