If you haven't seen the story, in a unanimous vote earlier this week, Dekalb County rejected is a plan for the Falcons stadium on the old GM plant in Doraville.
http://www.ajc.com/news/doraville-doesn-t-see-170166.html
So what does this really mean for Georgia State football?
I believe it is two fold:
1) Contrary to popular belief, Arthur Blank will not just blow the Dome up and contruct a brand new facility on that site. The City of Atlanta will fight tooth and nail and real estate experts that I've talked to want an extension of the Georgia World Congress Center to rival Chicago and Orlando in efforts to attract even more convention business.
2) We will be forced to follow the Falcons wherever they land (my personal belief is up I85 or I985 closer to the Falcons practice facility). This would also increase our rent quite significantly and would really put us in a tight spot financially if we haven't increased fundraising significantly by then.
This gives us quite a dilemma. Should we be pushing hard for an intown stadium and even offer to help the Falcons or should we set aim on an exisiting in town stadium to renovate?
The unfortunate thing is that GSU has n choice but to see how this all shakes out before making any decision regarding the future of athletic facilities. Hopefully the new study being done by the GWCC will not take forever and we will know in the next year what our options are. I would like to think that the GSU administration is already thinking long term and loking for parcels of land closer to campus than Panthersville. The Dome after all only resolves our football program facilities problem. The reality is that Panthersville is too far away and the facilities are too substandard for a Division I program.
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ReplyDeleteNo way we'll ever play at an AUC field. The Dome's rent is too cheap.
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