May 24, 2010
Everybody but Falcons still loves Georgia Dome
The Atlanta Falcons may insist that the Georgia Dome is lacking in "fan experience," but the 17-year-old stadium is getting plenty of love elsewhere.
Frank Poe, executive director of the Georgia World Congress Center that operates the dome, insists that it won't be torn down even if a new Falcons stadium is built because it would still be needed for college bowl games and NCAA basketball tournaments. That seems a bit dubious — can you really profitably run a stadium on a few college football games a year and an occasional basketball tournament? — but at least it's nice to see that somebody can run a dome without running up red ink just in operating costs.
Meanwhile, former Georgia Dome GM Khalil Johnson was even more blunt about the state of the Falcons' current home, and what he thinks of their demands for a new one:
Said Johnson, who now works out of Douglasville as a consultant regarding events and venues: "What's the pressing need? More money for the ownership. I don't know how that lines up with what the public wants ... I just question whether the public needs to give more when most of the benefits will go to a private owner."
About the Dome, Johnson said: "It may not be a great building but it's a damn good building. And improvements can be made … The bones of Georgia Dome are good. Ask anybody in the business, and they'll tell you that. It would make more economic sense to improve the Georgia Dome."
Falcons president Rich McKay says that the team is "extremely sensitive to the current economic environment" and that they hope to have a new stadium built in the "next six or seven years." Which should give them plenty of time to find a way to get Poe and Johnson to shut up.
"fan experience" = new revenue $tream$
give in now and the demands for new buildings will start up all over again across the country...
I would love a new stadium if the Falcons move to a less depressed area, outside the permiter.
Tired of being approached by vagabounds and potential criminals everytime we tailgate.