Gwinnett County Ballpark

Gwinnett County Ballpark is a new stadium in Lawrenceville, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta in Gwinnett County, that is currently in the construction stages. It will be primarily used for baseball and will be home to the relocated Richmond Braves, to be known as the Gwinnett Braves, of the International League. The Braves are the AAA minor-league affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. The ballpark will have a capacity of 10,099 people. It is planned to open in 2009, as the Richmond Braves lease at The Diamond in Richmond, Virginia expires in 2010, but the Braves have an option to terminate the lease after the 2008 season.

The stadium construction and maintenance is being paid-for by the county government, but the Braves will keep most of the revenue from ticket and concession stand sales. The municipal bonds used to pay for the stadium run for 30 years (until 2038), but the Braves have an option to back out of the contract after only half of that time (15 years, in 2023), if the county does not maintain the facility at an acceptable level. This would leave county taxpayers on the hook for the remainder, even though the Braves are a profit-making organization.

External links

* [http://www.gwinnettbraves.com/stadium.html Site plan from Gwinnett Braves website]
* [http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2008/03/01/gwinnettdeal_0302.html "AJC" article]