The city of Atlanta appears to be in a bit of a sports renaissance, at least when it comes to sports stadiums. The Atlanta Braves are packing up and moving closer to the burbs. The Atlanta Falcons have a brand new palace being constructed for football. Georgia State is going to move into Turner Field, the old (compared to their new park, and really nothing else) Braves stadium and make that their new home. Not to be outdone, the Atlanta Hawks could be seeing some renovations completed on Philips Arena in the coming years.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said on Monday that the city could handle an estimated cost between $100 and $150 million for upgrades to the basketball arena. The total price of the project could escalate up toward $300 million, via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“We have not settled on the number, but what we have looked at is our own capacity of what we can comfortably finance,” Reed said to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We think that number is between 100 million and 150 million (dollars). The total project would be anywhere from 200 million to 300 million (dollars).”
The Hawks have been reviewing potential upgrade options to Philips Arena for at least a few months now, and why not? With the Braves and Falcons making their own moves, and the city already losing a hockey franchise in recent years, the Hawks should absolutely be thinking progressively about their future. The sticky part of stadium costs is always about the taxpayers who would be covering a portion of the costs, and it would appear taxpayers will take on some of the cost for the arena updating in this situation.
Taxpayer funding of stadiums is a polarizing issue, and if a new agreement involving public funds is struck to rehab Philips, it’ll be the fourth deal reached since 2013 between a metropolitan Atlanta government and a major league franchise involving public subsidies for a sports facility.
That is a hefty price tag for the citizens of Atlanta. Unfortunately, it may be the price to pay for keeping the Hawks in Atlanta, which is also an all-too-common tale and threat in the sports world we live (see: NFL, Los Angeles). The Hawks may not be particularly close to leaving Atlanta though, largely due to a lack of options for a new franchise that make a ton of sense for the NBA. Los Angeles, unlike in the NFL, is covered. The NBA has already transplanted teams to Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Charlotte (via expansion after the Hornets left for New Orleans), and Brooklyn. All of the major destinations are filled – except for one.
If for whatever reason the Hawks decide to pick up and go, could Seattle be the city that regains a franchise in the NBA? After the Supersonics left the city for Oklahoma City to become the Thunder, Seattle has been without NBA basketball since 2008. Atlanta has already lost one major sports franchise to a city in the west, with the Atlanta Thrashers leaving to fill a void in Winnipeg in 2011. Could the Hawks follow a path out west the way their former Philips Arena roomies did in 2011? It probably will not get that far along, but it is certainly worth keeping an eye on just in case.
[AJC]
