The Olympic Stadium turned into Turner Field is a great example of how to excute a temporary olympic venue into a permanent one. It was a win-win. The stadium was a great venue for Baseball after the convertion because it was well done.I wish the City and the Braves could have worked it out. I am very glad that GA State its using it and doing great work revamping the area.
Exactly. It’s a waste of money to build the place solely for the Olympics. Better to build it mostly for another use in mind, then make it more temporary for the Olympics.
The Olympics is a big deal. Especially for a city like Atlanta in the early 90s. It’s better to build a stadium with a plan in mind after the Olympics leaves town, then to be in the situation Rio, Athens, etc found themselves in. Abandon!
I have to be honest, Turner Field was newer than a ton of the current stadiums. It was just built in a crappy location, with horrific transportation, that’s why the Braves were anxious to get out instead of renew their lease. The park itself wasn’t the problem, it seemed like it was a nice ballpark
I wasn’t THAT bad if you were willing to take public transportation. We used to jump on Marta at North Springs to the Underground and take a shuttle to Turner Field all the time when living in Roswell. Sometimes after the game it took a bit to get the shuttle back to Little Five Points, but it was never that bad. And yeah, that area wasn’t amazing, but I never felt unsafe - there were always plenty of fans on Marta after a game riding 🤷♀️. I haven’t been to the new stadium yet, but I feel like the move must have taken away an awful lot of jobs for folks in that area…
It isn't the rest of Baseball's problem if Turner Field wasn't in a good location and had crappy transit. The Braves should have been forced to stay at least another 10 years. Now, every team thinks they should get a new stadium after 20 years.
Saw Braves/Mets last 2 years. Had an amazing time despite 2 hr rain delay last week. Area around it is safe. Ton of places to eat. Plenty of hotels nearby. Whoever made the decision to move did the right thing. I hated getting to Turner Field.
I saw my first game at Turner Field. Also had the privilege of being at the last game at Turner field too. Lots of nostalgia at that place I’ll miss it forever
Turner had to go not because of the stadium itself, but because its location was affecting attendance. Getting there, and the parking situation was an absolute nightmare. No subway lines ran to the stadium, so you either had to go all the way by car (and the parking, especially trying to leave was horrible), or take a train to the nearest station and ride the bus to the ballpark. Not to mention having to go through the downtown connector and the traffic there was horrible. There was nothing whatsoever to do around the stadium, so everybody would try to come and go at the same time. Not to mention that it was in a neighborhood you didn't want to spend a second longer in than you had to. Most of the fans and season ticket holders live far closer to Truist than Turner.
The area around Turner Field was rough. Lots of homeless and others who wanted to hustle. I’m a transplant Padres fan and I only went when the Padres were in town. It was a hassle to get down there. I couldn’t believe the bus had to drop you off there or walk about a mile from MARTA
@@trewells When I used to get free tickets from work every so often, the friend I would go with and I would set a point spread of how many crackheads would harass us for money between the parking lot and the stadium, and we would throw down a $20 bet, with one of us having to take the over and the other one the under.
Let's be honest: the problems with Turner Field was 100% the location. There were just a few restaurants within walking distance of the stadium. Fans got scammed constantly by fake parking attendants (and then their cars would be towed as a result). You would be aggressively panhandled 3 or 4 times on the long walk to the stadium, and people were even getting mugged because opportunistic thieves know you're not strapped walking into the stadium. With the new stadium at the Battery, people make an evening of it and show up hours early, eat in one of the dozens of restaurants or just take a stroll through the shops, or even do an overnight at the on site hotel. I hated that the Braves abandoned Turner Field so early (I hate waste) but I'm a pretty big fan of what exists in Cobb County, even if I'm not fond of how it was funded.
This comment section provides far more info and deeper insight than the actual video. Outside of the upper deck needing a revamp, he didn’t go into much detail of the renovations that the Braves wanted to undertake. He also kept reiterating that it was a former Olympic park, even though it was clearly designed to be an MLB stadium playing dress up as an Olympic stadium, not the other way around. At first I was disgusted by the braves for replacing a ballpark that hadn’t even reached 20 years old (I’m from Boston, do the math😂) but I understand it better now. The poor parking infrastructure, heavy traffic patterns, lack of public transit, and minimal development opportunities of the surrounding area make sense. Though I do still think this was a case of American waste and greed…
I LOVE Truist Park in Atlanta, it’s a beautiful ballpark & it’s grown on me since the Braves moved there in 2017, the Braves did the right thing to build a new stadium about 15 miles north of Atlanta, even though Turned Field wasn’t very old when the Braves left, it had drawbacks, like access to the ballpark wash too good, and there just wasn’t enough parking to where it wouldn’t be too far to walk
Truist Park is better than Turner Field in all ways EXCEPT SOME ASPECTS OF PARKING. The parking situation requires a LOT more walking for fans at Truist Park because with the exception of a few parking decks that only those who fork out the most money or season ticket holders get, the "plebs" are walking upwards of a mile and a half in the heat, even having to cross a bridge across I-75 or I-285. Turner Field's parking situation was a lot more concentrated and closer to the stadium, so it was very congested after games and would sometimes take upwards of an hour or more to get out of the traffic and onto the freeway. Truist Parking parking isn't like that at all because the parking is so spaced apart across a larger geographic area in many directions from the stadium so each individual area has fewer overall cars funneling onto the same streets.
Atlanta is NOT Mid-Market. The Atlanta Metropolitan area is the 8th most populated metropolitan area in the country. The Atlanta urbanized area (the area that is developed land) is actually the fourth largest developed landmass in the world. Calling Atlanta "Mid-Market" is like saying it is comparable to St. Louis or San Diego, and that is just wrong.
Atlanta said it would build up the area for mixed use. Did they? MARTA was supposed to run a line to the park and never did. Now walk over a half a mile to get to the stadium in the Summer, best to pay $12 for parking and deal with the traffic because there was nothing to do around or near the stadium. Instead the Braves were called racist and other names for wanting to improve their Brand and get people down to their ballpark 365 days a year. I remember parking off the stadium parking because it had security and cost the same. City of Atlanta had plenty of time and money to do what they said they'd do and have no one to blame except themselves. How much extra was The Battery to build over Truist Park? Angel s were promised the same, but the neighborhood around their stadium looks like a rundown industrial area with nothing to do before or after a game.
If it was today - obviously the renovation would’ve been the answer . But considering they only spent 660 million for the new park I’d say it was a good decision . It’d be over a billion today. Timing was crucial I guess
My dad used to run the MARTA shuttle to Atlanta Fulton-County Stadium throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s. He'd pick fans up at Five Points MARTA station and drive them to the stadium and then go back and pick up some more fans. After the second or third inning or so, he could get in free to see the game for a few innings, as by the seventh inning he had to be ready for those leaving the games early. When I was fifteen years old during the 1992 World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays, I rode the shuttle my dad drove, got off tailgated with some people and later met back up with my dad after the game. Unfortunately, the Braves lost that game.
I completely forgot about Olympic Stadium and didn't know that it became Turner Field. The transformation was pretty cool to me. To me Turner Field or Truist will never be Fulton County Stadium. Watching on tv they never had the same excitement or electricity. But the renovation worked. And now what Georgia State has done is halfway cool. Baseball stadiums hosting football games is tricky but I've been to Petco Park for the Holiday Bowl and once I got into the game, I completely forgot that it was the home of the Padres so I wonder what it feels like inside watching the teams play. Visually it needs more renovations but the atmosphere is really what matters. I watched UNC play against Georgia State last season and couldn't understand the seating arrangements which made me google it and thought it was pretty cool and strange because they will probably rarely fill that place up.
I went to one game at Fulton Co. and many at Turner. Figures that I move and they build the new park right where I used to work. My office was in the complex you can see behind left field.
I believe Georgia State at one time planned to move their baseball stadium to the site of the former Atlanta/Fulton County Stadium - the field is still outlined in the parking lot, and the spot where Hank Aaron's 715th hone run cleared the outfield fence is commemmorated. It would be interesting to think of what would happen had Georgia State been playing football in the 1990s - it's possible Centennial Olympic Stadium has a simpler design that would allow for conversion to American football. The school could have rejoined the Sun Belt in 2001 when it started sponsoring football, and they certainly would have been a candidate for C-USA if not the Big East/AAC with any success. The Braves could have picked up a new ballpark that would have started as the Olympic baseball venue.
The Braves left Atlanta because Atlanta would not let them develop the surrounding area. Cobb county agreed to this. That is the key detail. The Battery has been so successful that some people in Liberty Media (the Braves owners) refer to the Braves as a real estate development that own a baseball team as a sideline.
I was six years old in 1966 when the Braves moved here. Getting to that area of Atlanta was a huge pain in the butt. I can remember my dad, even as a little kid, telling us to watch out because it was a very dangerous area. Take your life in your hands going there. While it’s true that parking is not great at truest park, at least you don’t feel like you’re going to get mugged or killed going there.
Wouldn’t have been cool if they kept it the way it was in the Olympics but built it for the falcons instead. I’ve never been a fan of the indoor feeling of the Georgia dome or Mercedes.
The Olympic construction had no negative impact on Turner FIeld as baseball ballpark, did you ever even go there? You would never know it was used for the Olympics.
I use to live across the street from Center Parc Stadium. Georgia State University has no intentions of demolishing it. It’s a $300 million dollar partnership between GSU and Carter real estate firm to redevelop the Summerhill community. The Atlanta Braves reached out to the City of Atlanta to partner with them on redeveloping the area. The City of Atlanta claimed they didn’t have the funding because they funded Mercedes Benz Stadium.
Right. The Falcons were wanting a new stadium at the same time as well. Atlanta went to fund Mercedes Benz because it host more events year round. And the Braves moving out would closer to their fans. It’s a win win
I still couldn't believe it when I heard the news that they were replacing Turner Field. It was still so new. I went a couple of times when I was younger. I remember it being a hassle to get there. But now that i'm older, I understand economically why they moved it. The demographics of downtown atlanta just do not match up with Braves Country. I think you will be seeing more teams do this in the future.
Atlanta and Tuner Field got a lot of things right, the Braves needed a new stadium and Atlanta didn't want to have a white elephant Olympic stadium on their hands so designing a baseball stadium with all the baseball elements and building the main stand along with the temporary seating to accommodate track and field is far better and looking ahead vs what happened in Montreal, I heard Tuner Field actually needed a $400 million renovation where $250 million was deferred but needed to be done to undo some of the left over Olympic stadium construction design, the biggest issue with Tuner Field is the location as the MARTA doesn't stop close enough to walk and fans would have to travel through the ghetto, also the majority of the parking is on the north side and traffic is horrible, the majority of their fans are in the north part of the city and their is plenty of parking around the entire new stadium, I don't know if the Maple Leafs were the first team to develop the land around their stadium but being about to develop the surrounding area seems like a must have now, heard Georgia State will tear down the south stands that are outside extend past the newly constructed east stands
Lived in both. Atlanta is hot, but nothing like DFW. Evening games are very pleasant. The Rangers needed a roof, even at night, it's still 90. I am glad they didn't build the roof in Atlanta because it would probably just stay closed all the time.
The main reason for the move was the location. I’ve been going to the games there since the 90s and the fan experience wasn’t all that bad. The main reason for the move was the location. That’s the main thing the fans were complaining about
I went too my first Braves game in ATL last August…everyone who I spoke with was mad that they built the new stadium out in Cobb county. They don’t like it because it’s too far from the city. Lucky Braves fans love there team cause if this was the marlins or some other team there attendance would really suffer. With that being said, there new ballpark is amazing and without a doubt I wouldn’t mind going back.
Truist Park's location was selected because it was in the heart of the area where they had the heaviest concentration of season ticket holders. The Braves did well at Turner Field near downtown Atlanta, but they do even better in Cobb County.
Since I live here in the Atlanta area. I feel u in later today on the whole store why the Braves left the south side of Atlanta and there under deal that was done by Cobb county which I lived in at the time.
You mean under the table deal done by Cobb County supervisors without asking anyone? They lucked out and it turned out OK, but the people were not too enthused about the secrecy. Especially Atlanta City Hall.
Several reasons why the Braves moved to Cobb County: 1. The location of Turner Field. There's a very bad neighborhood literally 3 blocks to the east of the stadium. Not good for their fans. 2. Accessibility by public transit. The nearest MARTA station was over a mile away via walking. 3. Financing. The city of Atlanta/Fulton County had already committed too much money to the Falcons for building Mercedes-Benz Stadium and they didn't have enough in the coffers for the Braves, and the state of Georgia wouldn't help out. So......Off to the suburbs they went!!!
The Braves did not own Turner Field the city did. They were leasing it. The city wanted the braves to pay for the renovations. The cost of the lease plus renovations it was cheaper to build a new one. So they left when the lease was up.
I’ve seen games at the old Atlanta, Fulton County, Stadium, then Turner Field and now Truist park. I can tell you getting to Truist Park is a bitch. No public transportation and nowhere to park. I literally parked at the shopping mall across the street the last time I was there in front of a bunch of no parking signs.
Turner field was good but not great. The other reason why the Braves to Truist/Suntrust Ballpark is it was a headache getting to it. The Braves wanted to get Atlanta to install a Marta station at the Ted but it would need to go under or over I85. Atlanta did not want to spend the money. The only public transportation is a bus that left 5 points station. This is the 3 mile drive that takes 10-15 mins to travel during rush hour. I live near Baltimore and I been to Camden yards and Turner field and I think that Turner field was in better shape than Camden yards. Truist ballpark blows camden yards out of the water. Not even close.
Killing two birds with one stone in this case wasn’t being cheap. It made perfect sense what they did in this case. It was clearly built first and foremost for baseball, it’s more like someone said “oh hey, we’re hosting the Olympics, let’s leave the outfield open and put up some temporary stands first so we can use it for that. Then completely finish the park after that.”
Since when have the Braves been a mid-market team?? They are as major market as you can get! Covers the entire Southeast and there are tons of Braves fans all over the country.
Stop smacking your lips so often, other than that, great video. I was raised to be a Braves fan, though I turned into a Red Sox fan, but I always wanted to visit Turner field simply so i could watch a game, and honestly take in the history of the stadium. I could go to a Georgia State game to do so, but honestly, i have no desire to do so. Nothing against them, but i wanted to take in the baseball and Olympic history. Imagining all the greats that played there, and all the athletes from around the world that were there.
