On a recent trip to Atlanta, I had a chance to visit the Braves’ new home, SunTrust Park. It’s a lovely facility, but unfortunately terribly inaccessible for anyone who doesn’t live in the new neighborhood. Since relocating to Atlanta in 1966, the Braves played in middle of the city, a location convenient to citizens on all sides of what has become a congested metropolitan area and one served by both train and bus. The new stadium can be reached only by very long bus rides and is located at the intersection of two overcrowded interstate highways in an overdeveloped area full of malls and office parks. Parking is scattered around the stadium in a number of small lots, some as far as a 20-minute walk. The demographics of Braves baseball are obvious at the stadium, where most of the customers are white, but a large part of the help is not (in a city that is 48% white, according to the 2010 census). On a walk around the facility, I spoke with a young black female doing customer relations work who noted that she and many of her coworkers – all part-time, hourly staff – are bussed in from one of the city’s train stations. Is it that those willing to work for Braves wages in sufficient numbers are not the people living in the vicinity of the stadium, and those that are willing cannot afford private transport to the stadium? Might be some interesting research for a baseball anthropologist!
More about the SunTrust boondoggle here:
Stealing home: Atlanta Braves and Cobb County kick out neighborhood residents
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/stealing-home-atlanta-braves-and-cobb-county-kick-out-neighborhood-residents-2016-11-18
Cobb County And The Braves: Worst Sports Stadium Deal Ever?
https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/qkyk3v/cobb-county-and-the-braves-worst-sports-stadium-deal-ever
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