Braves Building
New Stadium

Officials for the Braves announced Nov. 11 the team has secured 60 acres of land for a $672 million stadium that will be built in partnership with Cobb County, which offered as much as $450 million in support for the project, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Braves President John Schuerholz told the paper the decision to move didn’t come lightly.

“We’ve played in our current facility for quite some time, and it was with mixed emotions that we made this decision because we have many great Braves baseball memories that occurred for all of us … in that facility.”

Schuerholz added that the new stadium will “thrive with action and vitality 365 days a year, not just game days. And we plan to transform the surrounding area into not only a new ballpark but a mixed-use destination.”

Construction on the approximately 42,000-seat stadium is scheduled to kick off in late 2014, the AJC noted, as well as construction on an adjacent mixed-use development set to include entertainment, retail, restaurants and hotels.

It’s unclear what will become of Turner Field following the move.

Braves exec Mike Plant told the paper Turner Field would need about $150 million in infrastructure work to remain viable, but to enhance the fan experience would require more than $200 million.

“We also recognized that what is insurmountable is we can’t control traffic, which is the No.1 reason why our fans don’t come to more games,” he said. “That over the last decade has grown immensely. … We are under-served by about 5,000 parking spaces. All of those things contribute to some real challenges for us that we just, looking forward, didn’t believe could be overcome.”