Re: Where would we play? you know i think i actually agree with you (who'd thought i'd ever say that?). It's not that i'm completely against the downtown idea because it does have potential, but i think Gwinnett might have more (potential). I think the very fact that land in Gwinnett should probably be cheaper & more places to select from, closer to the soccer moms, and like you said only the Force is there to compete with (and people can say what they want, but a soccer team would blow any hockey team out of the water in Georgia) gives Gwinnett the advantage. Plus, it's closer to UGA (and me). A couple things though: MARTA is a must for a team to survive. If i were the MLS team, i'd make sure that MARTA connected through Gwinnett as part of the deal. OR i'd have shuttle buses all over Atlanta (and the south). Either way, i'd try and work a deal with Georgia Tech, UGA, and Georgia State to get a shuttle bus coming to and from the stadium (all take about 40 minutes to get to Lawrenceville).
Re: Where would we play? They won't need shuttles to Athens from Gwinnett. A proposed light rail, possibly maglift has already been approved to run from UGA's campus to the UGA satellite campus in Lawrenceville. I do not know the date of completion though. The Force are a indoor football team downtown. They no longer play in Gwinnett. It is the Gladiators ECHL hockey that plays in Gwinnett. While these will not compete for attention with an MLS team, what some of you might not know is that a 20,000 seat baseball stadium has been proposed by the Gwinnett county commission to be built by the Gwinnett Arena where the Gladiators play. It will house a minor league Braves team, much like the Macon and Rome Braves and Augusta Pirates. And I guarantee you that a minor league baseball team in Gwinnett county will pull people in. The good news is that an MLS game will not be played every night. But don't forget that there would be areas up 400 or even around KSU in Kennesaw that a stadium could be built as well.
Re: Where would we play? As i think we can all agree...Atlanta MLS has the making for regional monopoly. And it's my belief that the team should provide a shuttle bus (whether it's just an old school bus or what) to the stadium and back to ensure that. Thus, I mapquested the distance from the major cities in the south to Lawrenceville to see what we're looking at. From...to Lawrenceville Macon-1.54 Augusta-2.30 Savannah-4.19 Albany-3.30 Columbus-2.22 Athens-0.48 Chattanooga-2.15 Nashville-4.16 Knoxville-3.42 Memphis-7.90 Tuscaloosa-3.39 Birmingham-2.52 Mobile-5.30 Huntsville-4.13 Jackson-6.17 Jacksonville-5.46 Pensacola-5.44 Tallahassee-5.05 Charleston-5.10 Columbia-3.29 Greenville-1.57 Florence-4.39 Aiken-2.53 Myrtle Beach-6.06 Charlotte-3.33 Greensboro-4.56 Raleigh-6.09 Winston-Salem-4.44 Asheville-3.07 ***someone else or i'll do it later the distance to Herndon and ReMax to decide on if the downtown area would be convenient enough to fans to make it better suited than Gwinnett.
Re: Where would we play? I mean, your adding 20-30min max to downtown or anywhere else depending on traffic.
Re: Where would we play? wonder if they could buy out the proposal deal. either way, i think that an MLS team could compete with a minor league baseball team.
Re: Where would we play? Oh absolutely. I just point it out because MLS only has 1-2 games a week, and minor league will play 6 games a week. So there is almost always going to be a scheduling conflict. But at the same time, the pull is going to be far greater for MLS, while a minor league team in Gwinnett will most likely only pull from Gwinnett and a couple of very close surrounding counties.
Re: Where would we play? But don't forget the northside traffic which is probably at its worst in that area you are talking about. I am from the northside and have to admit thatit would be better than the southside, but there are a couple of huge soccer clubs in Fayette, Peachtree City and Rockdale. and of course all of middle and southern GA. Putting it in Gwinette makes is it more difficult for them. Bu on ething is for sure, there will be many factors ouside of where the fan base is that contributes to where they choose to build. Seems to me that the Backs have a near perfect location...its just too bad they are surrounded on all sides.
Re: Where would we play? that line will also connect GSU/GaTech, the HBCs, Emory, UGA and everywhere in between. Don't know when its supposed to be completed, but it is underway.
Re: Where would we play? a link to st mountain park map http://www.stonemountainpark.com/maps-directions/map-of-park.aspx
Re: Where would we play? Absolutely not. That's one reason why the Silverbacks could barely draw files when they played at DMS/Hallford. Stone Mountain is on the wrong side of town for the bulk of Atlanta soccer fans. The stadium needs to be somewhere between I-75 and I-85, preferably around 400, or else closer to town/intown. And, it needs to be just a stadium, not a stadium and a million soccer fields. That's what killed the Atlanta Soccer Village.
Re: Where would we play? The league may have a problem with the Atlanta Stoners But to be serious, before the Aquarium, Stone Mountian was the single largest touist attraction in GA pulling in just under 4 million visitors a year. I very seriously doubt that the State of GA would allow any kind of sports arena on the property.
Re: Where would we play? I keep waiting for one of the big factories to close down between Ashford-Dunwoody and Peachtree Industrial. If just one of those monstrosities were to be closed we could do a whole village thing like NJ is doing for the Red Bulls. For those of you who haven't checked out the website you should. It is a very cool idea. Kind of an Atlantic Station with sports facility built in. Red Bull Park
Re: Where would we play? Why? They allow all kinds of other entertainment facilities, like ice skating, the auto museum, putput, golf, horseback riding, bull riding events, etc. The park is run by the Herschend Family Entertainment Corp. I assume if they approved the idea and had permission to run the thing, they could take a good argument to the state for permission. But I agree it's on the wrong side of town.
Re: Where would we play? Trust me I like the thought of having a stadium between 75 and 85 but you better find an owner with HUGE POCKETS. When a developer is taking a 3 acre track and dumping 20 townhomes for a price of anywhere from $400K (low end) to $800K (high) it makes it almost impossible to field a franchise as well as a stadium......The next option is to find a sponsor ie HOME DEPOT or HOOTERS to pay for the stadium but I'm sure they would also want orange to uniform color as well as owning the real estate on the front of the jersey. Go to far north and MARTA is out of the question and without MARTA you cut out all of the population south of atlanta like peachtree city, fayette, coweta and henry counties and all of the young soccer fans. Driving through or around atlanta is enough of a pain in the ass for most people 5 times a week let alone on the weekends to take the kids to the games. There is always traffic in atlanta except maybe sunday night.
Re: Where would we play? capacity for the final phase will be 15,000 but is has an upper deck on only one side so I would think they could add an upper deck on the other side.
Re: Where would we play? The Ford and GM plants will be closing but I'm sure they will present huge problems as far as environmental cleanup which would be very, very costly. And who would pay for the demolision/cleanup? Not team owners...thats for sure
Re: Where would we play? I've emailed Jill Lerner from the Atlanta Business Chronicle and she said that she is going to follow-up on the potential ownership group and their stadium plans. She is going get back to me next week.
Re: Where would we play? I'm not sure how much of the Ford plant area is actually able to be devloped becuase a good portion of it is now in the no build area from the airport. edit: actually I found an article about it. http://www.ajc.com/printedition/content/printedition/2007/01/20/methapeville0120b.html
Re: Where would we play? The Gm land is worth two million an acre according to city officials. If we require forty acres for a stadium, that is a huge sum to drop just for land.Next is the actual stadium cost which will be 60-100 mil. Franchise fees and startup costs - another 25-30 mil. We need about 200 million to get started.
Re: Where would we play? But the question remains, where are people going to park? Isn't RE/Max pretty much landlocked? Also, I wonder about ingress/egress problems. Is Pleasantdale Road big enough to handle that many cars? If Boris can acquire more land around his complex, then it would be fine.
Re: Where would we play? it's terrible getting out of that parking lot with just a couple thousand I can't imagine what it would be like with 15,000 he could make more spaces by building a parking deck I suppose but that doesn't help the traffic I would think some major work would have to be done on the property and probably on the roads
