New Falcons Stadium Approved by City Council (Atlanta, Mount Vernon: bankruptcy, live)

[joey86]

Originally Posted by Galounger

I just can't stop thinking of all the great things that could be done for Atlanta with that $Billion when we already have a perfectly good stadium that to someone my age seems like it was built just yesterday.

Atlanta isn't spending a billion dollars on the stadium. You can talk about your fantasies in this thread.

https://www.city-data.com/forum/atlan...n-dollars.html

[Jillgineer]

Originally Posted by joey86

Atlanta isn't spending a billion dollars on the stadium. You can talk about your fantasies in this thread.

https://www.city-data.com/forum/atlan...n-dollars.html

That depends on what unit of measure you use. If you use nominal dollars, which is the way most people think of money, based on historic growth, it's projected that the Falcons are going to get over $900,000,000 from the public as part of the stadium deal. If you use constant/real dollars, which are adjusted for inflation, it's more like 550,000,000 2013 dollars. Either way, it's not the $200,000,000 that the public has been led to believe by city officials and some of the more enthusiastic "the ends justify the means" supporters. Given that "economic impact" studies used to justify these types of project are always done in nominal dollars, it's not unfair to use the same unit of measure for the costs. None of this would be in question had the city brought in an independent consultant to create a report for the public like the CEO of any company would demand before investing money in such a large scale project. To not do so would be a violation of the CEO's fiduciary obligations. With so much money involved, there's no reason for not doing this other than not wanting anyone to see the actual numbers. Even now you have some who will insist that it's "only" $200,000,000 and not a penny more even though that number has been thoroughly debunked.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by Jillgineer

That depends on what unit of measure you use. If you use nominal dollars, which is the way most people think of money, based on historic growth, it's projected that the Falcons are going to get over $900,000,000 from the public as part of the stadium deal. If you use constant/real dollars, which are adjusted for inflation, it's more like 550,000,000 2013 dollars. Either way, it's not the $200,000,000 that the public has been led to believe by city officials and some of the more enthusiastic "the ends justify the means" supporters. Given that "economic impact" studies used to justify these types of project are always done in nominal dollars, it's not unfair to use the same unit of measure for the costs. None of this would be in question had the city brought in an independent consultant to create a report for the public like the CEO of any company would demand before investing money in such a large scale project. To not do so would be a violation of the CEO's fiduciary obligations. With so much money involved, there's no reason for not doing this other than not wanting anyone to see the actual numbers. Even now you have some who will insist that it's "only" $200,000,000 and not a penny more even though that number has been thoroughly debunked.

That isn't accurate. It is not something that has been thoroughly debunked by any means.

The problem is you are mixing up the capital cost of building the new stadium vs. the long-term up keep from a tax that already exists to pay for operations and is money that would still be needed if the Dome was kept.

Under the current plan that has been signed off on no changes to the tax are made. They will use the existing tax allotment already used for the Ga Dome.

Only $200 million of the $1 billion cost of -building- the stadium is coming from public sources. The Falcons are responsible for cost overruns and they've given the city money as a part of the deal to pay for infrastructure improvements in the neighborhoods around the stadium.

Nothing changes that....

Now there are many other nuances to the contracts about any thing that is a public-private build property. Who is responsible for what costs, where does the money come from, who gets to college income, etc...
The Falcons are spending a ton of private money on the facility, so they negotiate their rights to the facility as well.

With the Dome, it is managed and operated by the GWCC. They are responsible for capital improvements, maintenance and collecting money from its use. In the end with long-term maintenance they need the existing tax to pay for improvements and maintenance.

With the deal with the new stadium, they are choosing to let the private company, the Falcons manage the stadium. This includes maintenance, improvements, and renting it out. The premise being two-fold: they are heavily invested in the facility and they will find more ways to generate revenue and be more efficient.

The contract also gives them access to the same tax receipts from that same existing tax to put towards maintenance and long-term capital improvements only after it pays off the debt on the $200 million. I also don't believe there is a guarantee in the contract that it will always be there.


So when discussing the cost of building the new stadium... it is entirely accurate to say the public cost is $200 million out of the over $1 billion price tag and the public is not responsible for cost overruns.

There is more money there over long periods of time once the bonds are paid off, but it isn't going towards the initial construction costs. Arther Blank's companies still had to fund the initial construction over $200,000.

Also, none of this is in question at all. It was white and black in contract and in negotiations that lasted many months.

[jsvh]

Comment on the stadium site process from Reed in another article:

...I asked him about the status of negotiations with Mount Vernon.

“I do recognize that this has to be closed out prior to Labor Day,” said Reed, who added that he has not yet met with Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank to brief him about his talks with the churches. “We need to come to negotiations with Mount Vernon and they need to be concrete. We have to avoid the urge to do something (before the deal is ready). It’s got to come together.”

Reed said he continues to push for the stadium to be built on the south site, but he said that what’s most important is that the facility will be built in downtown Atlanta.

- See more at: Mayor Kasim Reed: Atlanta needs a therapist as it reasserts its dominance | SaportaReport

[Zanarkand A East]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Comment on the stadium site process from Reed in another article:

Looks like the Mayor sees the writing on the wall: the Falcons and GWCCA threw him a bone, and he didn't deliver on the south site. Now they can build on the north site, as they always intended to.

In other news, it's amusing that people still (still!) think this deal is costing $1 billion in tax revenue.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by Zanarkand A East

Looks like the Mayor sees the writing on the wall: the Falcons and GWCCA threw him a bone, and he didn't deliver on the south site. Now they can build on the north site, as they always intended to.

In other news, it's amusing that people still (still!) think this deal is costing $1 billion in tax revenue.

I don't know. I read “We need to come to negotiations with Mount Vernon and they need to be concrete. We have to avoid the urge to do something (before the deal is ready). It’s got to come together.” as that we have something going for the south site. But it is not 100% yet and so nothing will be announced until it is 100%.

But he said a final call either way will be made before Labor Day so we will find out soon.

[Zanarkand A East]

At today's press conference at the GWCC, Blank reemphasized that although the south site was listed as the preferred site in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with GWCCA, the north and south sites are about equal on pros and cons and on development costs (and that the Falcons preferred the north site in the first place). He said that the "fluff" build into the stadium construction timeline is gone, and that a decision will be made by October 1st at the absolute latest, although he expects a decisions within two weeks. Overall, he said that all of the parties, including Mayor Reed, are satisfied with the north site if the south site falls through, and that investigative work on the north site (presumably, soil samples, etc.) has caught up with the progress of investigative work on the south site. Falcons President Rich McKay says that final stadium design will be delivered by before constructions starts in March 2014, and that the PSL system will be decided upon by January 1, 2014.

One of the audience questions/comments was from Atlanta City Councilmember Ivory Lee Young (who represents Vine City and English Avenue), who brought up that the current Georgia Dome traffic locks down the local neighborhoods with traffic, and that he hopes the Falcons, GWCCA, and constructions partners build the new stadium close to MARTA. He went on to say that he hopes the State of Georgia would "cut a check" to expand the Vine City and GWCC/Philips MARTA stations. Other comments focused on community benefits, such as job centers, opportunities for minority and women-owned businesses in the construction and stadium operations phases, water run-off in Vine City and English Avenue caused by the current Dome, and whether the Falcons thought that the south site could ever be acquired without private funds (they did, but realize now that private funds will be necessary). The Falcons reiterated that they have not been involved with negotiations with the churches, besides one meeting that Blank had with the pastor at Mount Vernon, but that they would get involved if requested, and that they want the churches to make a decision that is in the churches' best interest, not the Falcons'.

Also, an audience member asked if Arthur Blank would buy an MLS franchise, to which he responded that he would like to see a team here (since his kids like it, and it fits with his Foundation's work to fight child obesity), but he said it's not clear whether he will own the team himself. He reiterated that he's been in discussions with MLS and Don Garber for a while now.

Notably, when Rich McKay said that the PSL program would be decided on by the end of the season in January, Arthur Blank said, "Mr. McKay, I believe we'll be playing in February."

[jsvh]

Good update Zanarkand. I would love to have an MLS team!

[Zanarkand A East]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Good update Zanarkand. I would love to have an MLS team!

Glad to share! I'd love an MLS team here too!

[westau]

Originally Posted by Zanarkand A East

Glad to share! I'd love an MLS team here too!

Won't be as successful as it could be at the south site.