Baseball in Gwinnett - Implications

Written by Colin on January 22, 2008 – 3:03 pm

So there’s some feedback coming from the community regarding the Braves’ decision to move their AAA team to Gwinnett.  Here are some thoughts coming from different groups of people.

Atlanta:  We’re hearing mostly positive feedback from Atlanta - another baseball team in town can’t hurt, right?  Another smaller crowd sees no need to add a third team to Georgia - citing attendance issues for the big league team that would be worsened by the presence of another baseball team in the metro area.

Gwinnett:  I’m hearing two crowds from Gwinnett - some people want the Braves best farm team nearby and easily accessible.  Another set is worried about the traffic and other implications that will only get worse with another stadium.  They claim that the taxpayers will end up paying some for the stadium (the plan is for the team to pay back the county for the entire cost of the stadium), and that the team will worsen the issues already faced by Gwinnett and the metro area.

Richmond:  Everyone from Richmond is sorry to see the team go.  I would be sad to see the Braves leave as well - it’s not like they have a big league club in town as well.  However, the attendance rate in Richmond has been around 38% - hardly wildly successful.

Rome:  We’ve had some of our own readers express their concern over the impact of the Gwinnett team on the Class A Rome Braves.  Their main concerns are that attendance will drop and rehab assignments will be sent to AAA Gwinnett instead of Rome’s Class A ballclub.  I think this is a legitimate concern but the Braves feel the benefits will outweigh the potential downsides.  I think we’ll see rehab assignments go to Class A - Gwinnett may be closer, but it’ll be easier to shuffle the roster of the Class A team, not the AAA team.  I’m not saying that we’ll never see rehab assignments go to the AAA team, but I think we’ll see the majority stay at Class A.  Yeah, we’ll see some difference in attendance in Rome likely, but that’s going to be hard to predict.  I know I’ll want to go see both teams - the AAA team will let us see the higher level prospects, and Rome will let us see the younger guys.

More will come as we know more - but I think that the overall impact on the Atlanta Braves fan community is going to be positive.  Hopefully our fans up in Richmond don’t abandon the franchise and will continue to support the Braves throughout the years.

Posted in Minor Leagues |