Source: GwinnettHerald.com

Gwinnett a hub for pro sports

by Scott Sowers

January 18, 2008

GWINNETT COUNTY -- With the Atlanta Braves recently announcing the relocation of the Richmond Braves AAA squad to Gwinnett County, the area is slowly becoming a nexus of professional minor league sports. The county is now able to boast an ECHL hockey team, ABA basketball team, Arena Football League team and of course AAA baseball.

But what makes Gwinnett so attractive to all of these different sports teams? How can they all do so well in this market with all four of the major leagues (NBA, MLB, NFL and NHL) just down I-85 in Atlanta?

The obvious answers are the convenience and affordability of having these teams in the county. Fans do not have to battle traffic all the way to downtown Atlanta on a weeknight to go to the Georgia Dome, Philips Arena or Turner Field.

“We moved our team here from DeKalb County because of the power that Gwinnett County has,” said Atlanta Vision owner and president Quentin Townsend. “We saw the success of the Gladiators and Force and wanted that. Gwinnett supports their teams.”

Minor league games are also much cheaper to attend for fans than their major league equivalents.

Season tickets for the Atlanta Falcons, for example, can run in the multiple hundreds if not thousands of dollars depending on the seat, but the Georgia Force has season tickets available for as low as $81 a piece. The Gwinnett Braves are currently accepting $100 deposits for season tickets while their counterpart in the bigs charge at minimum $274 for season tickets this coming season.

Additionally, minor league sports offer something a little different for the casual fan: the ability to see up and coming players doing their best to make it to the pros. In the Braves’ case, if one of the star major league players needs to rehabilitate an injury, it would be easy for them to head up the road and play a few games while getting back to full strength.

“We love playing in Gwinnett County,” Townsend said. “Our theme is local players, local fans because we try and feature a lot of players with Georgia or specifically Gwinnett ties.”

New venues in the county have helped to raise the profile of these teams and make them more appealing. The Arena at Gwinnett Center – where the Vision, Gladiators and starting again this season, the Force, all call home – was opened in 2003. The Braves plan on constructing an approximately $45 million stadium near the Mall of Georgia before they begin play in 2009.

The Force originally started in Gwinnett playing at the Arena but then moved to play at Philips Arena. Once that agreement ended, the team decided to move back to Gwinnett.

“Part of the decision for the move was based upon the fact that the Gwinnett Arena has more lower bowl seats for fans than Philips,” said Brian Caerns, the football communications director for the team. “Arena football is very fast-paced and exciting, and the fans need to be close to the action.”

These facilities, especially the Arena, can play host to a multitude of events.

“Having these sports facilities has raised the awareness of Gwinnett as a venue or destination,” said Lisa Anders, the marketing and communications director for the Gwinnett Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Somewhere like the Arena allows us to bring in other events such as the SEC women’s gymnastic championships this year and the NCAA women’s basketball tournament next season.”

Anders estimated that events at the Arena bring in approximately 3,000 to 4,000 hotel nights per year for the county. She said that once the new baseball stadium opens there will be 10 open dates a year that can be used for things like tournaments that will attract out of town teams.

“The businesses love it when events are held because people come here to stay in our hotels, eat in our restaurants and spend money in our stores,” Anders said.

Interest in the new Braves team has already been quite high, even though they were only officially announced last week. At press time, Anders estimated that there were already close to 1,000 requests for season tickets and that she had spoken with approximately 100 businesses about various requests.

“The businesses have asked me about being vendors at the stadium, about building things like fences and about leasing luxury boxes,” she said.

Time will tell if the Atlanta metro market will be able to support these minor league teams with their major league counterparts a short drive away. But for now, business is booming in Gwinnett, and the teams and fans seem to love it.

- www.gwinnettherald.com

Not to pick too much over an issue I think everyone here is well aware of but the Force's very first season was played in Philips Arena (for only one season) then they moved to Gwinnett Arena for two seasons then back to Philips for three and now back to The Fortress!

Can you believe it's been six years?!

Shhhh... don't interrupt the Gwinnettian kool-aid drinking. They don't take to it well.

Maybe it was the "if a tree fell in the forest and nobody heard it" thought process, because of the amazing attendance that year at the Phil.........

8257 8462 - 7103 - 5512 - 5689 - - 8432 6034 - - 49489 7069

........that they just forgot about.

And yet the attendance at the Phil was so much more memorable?