Insane new Atlanta Falcons stadium is happening: Now where’s it going?

The church sits on one of two sites the Falcons are considering for their new, $1 billion stadium. The south site contains both the Friendship Baptist Church and the Mount Vernon Baptist Church (with which the Falcons don’t yet have a deal), while the north site is located about a half-mile away from the Georgia Dome and Vine City MARTA station.

Mayor Reed has indicated a strong preference for the south site due to its proximity to two MARTA stations and the Georgia World Congress Center. Purchasing the church property clears one big hurdle in that direction.

Rich McKay, the Falcons CEO and president, has sent a letter to the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, saying that the current front-running site for a new stadium isn’t feasible because the company building the stadium hasn’t bought two churches standing in the way of construction.

The deadline to make an agreement with the churches is Thursday, Aug. 1.

The biggest issue facing the Atlanta Falcons’ eye-popping new football stadium: whether to build it just north of the current Georgia Dome, which would mean greater distance from hotels, the airport, transit, and the city’s skyline, or just south, which would mean buying the land presently occupied by a pair of historic churches.

The team prefers the south site. Those churches also prefer the south site. Friendship Baptist, established in 1866 and the wellspring for both Morehouse and Spelman colleges, has rejected the city’s offer of $13.5 million for the property, asking for nearly double that. Mayor Kasim Reed told 11 Alive he’s upped the offer by $2 million. Meanwhile, the state is negotiating with Martin Luther King Drive’s Mount Vernon Baptist.

Earlier this year, the GWCC had released two different retractable-roof concepts, the oculus-to-paradise Pantheon (lovingly dubbed “the Stankonia Dome”) and the unboxable warehouse Solarium. We detailed both of them here, but not really both of them, because only one of them is the Stankonia Dome.

And it’s the Pantheon idea that’s officially outlasted the Solarium. The final design will be unveiled in 2014, but we’ve taken a major step toward it.

The Atlanta Falcons continue to move forward in their efforts to build a new stadium, as NFL owners have approved the team for $200 million in NFL G-4 funding. The team has already secured $200 million in city tourism taxes, and will foot the bill for the rest of expenses.

Team owner Arthur Blank issued this statement on the official website:

One, the Solarium, is not very insane: it looks like Lucas Oil Stadium and Qwest Field combined and is a perfectly tasteful take on the modern football venue:

The other, the Pantheon, is completely warped. I love it. It opens and closes like a Canon camera or a portal to a hell where the Falcons still play Godsmack at football games:

The Falcons’ new retractable stadium could rank as the 11th- or 12th-weirdest building in that specific part of Atlanta, if one of the design company’s two concepts ends up being anything like what gets selected.

Video of the two in action, via WSBTV.

First, yes, Atlanta is putting up public money for the Falcons’ new stadium. This is not ideal, but all things considered, it’s about as good a deal as any city will ever get in the current climate. Actually, the real first point is that we still have no idea why we need a new stadium when the Georgia Dome was opened in 1992. But moving on.

The benefits for the Falcons are obvious. They’ll make more annual revenue by having better ad space and retaining more in-game profits, increase the overall value of their franchise (which ranks No. 28 according to Forbes, despite consistent sellouts and a mostly successful decade on the field), and possibly be able to offer a variable game experience via a retractable lid.

Do you really need a new stadium considering the Georgia Dome is as old as Taylor Lautner and Caribou Coffee? No. No we do not.

Then why is it happening? The honest answer is probably this: that the Falcons want to increase their revenue share and control over “the Gameday experience,” i.e. reduce the role the Georgia World Congress Center plays in their operations. They accomplish this task by building a new stadium they control on the GWCC’s turf, reduce the cut they pay to other people, and in turn get the shiny new toy every NFL franchise wants. In return, Atlanta gets a new stadium with something amounting to 80/20 funding. In theory.

Arthur Blank and Atlanta have come to a pretty good deal regarding the Falcons’ new stadium. I don’t understand why we need a new stadium, but a pretty good deal’s a pretty good deal. Bye, other 1992 things!

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The new stadium is expected to have a price tag of $1 billion, with $800 million coming from the Falcons and the NFL. The public will pay the remaining $200 million, via bonds paid for through the city’s hotel-motel tax. The Falcons plan to have the new stadium, located in the heart of the city, open in time for the 2017 NFL season.

In addition to the stadium deal, the Arthur Blank Family Foundation and the city each plan to provide $15 million towards development of the surrounding neighborhoods, for a total of $30 million. The $15 million from the city will come from city tax allocation district funds, and they will look to raise an additional $15 million in private sector investment.