On the spectrum of high-risk sports deals, building a stadium for an expansion team in a one-year-old women’s soccer league that’s only signing a five-year lease has to be considered on the wrong end. On the bright side, Kennesaw State University’s stadium for the Atlanta Beat will cost only $16.5 million, and is being funded substantially by two anonymous private donations, along with student fees and venue revenues. And at least the Beat won’t have to struggle along anymore in their outmoded three-year-old stadium.
4 comments on “Kennesaw State to build stadium for women’s pro soccer team”
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Good for the University and the Beat. God knows Atlanta Silverbacks Stadium (ex RE/MAX), is a poor venue at best. They don’t even have bathrooms equivalent to the seating capacity (including lacking them completely on one side of the stadium). As for university good for them, they get a new stadium and 7 practice/intermural fields, they’re privately funding themselves completely without even those TIF’s that Neil hates so much. Can’t really say anything better than that about a stadium.
Neil,
I highly disagree. This is a win-win for both of the University and the Atlanta Beat. Although this is a risk venture for the Atlanta Beat it is as if they are getting a brand new stadium at a bargain basement price on a risk they would have been taking anyway. Quite honestly, they couldn’t have worked out a more sweet deal for a brand new stadium any place else. Also, don’t worry about support from the University. At the current time Kennesaw State is toting roughly 23,000 students, became the third most populous university in the state within a decade and shows no signs of slowing up. With those facts regardless of an ironclad lease agreement I’m sure the University will find someway to fill the seats.
What’s the risk for the Beat exactly? Promising to still be around in five years?
If Kennesaw State wanted to build a stadium anyway, I guess having the Beat play there is reasonable enough. But I’m not sure even a 23,000-student university really needs a stadium just for women’s soccer and high school lacrosse.
Neil,
In my opinion, the stadium is not for long term soccer use. Watch for the head fake. Yes KSU wants to appease the title nine powers that be and the Atlanta Beat happened to be looking for a new stadium. However truth be told, KSU doesn’t care who rents the stadium until they finish raising enough money to get the football program established. As long as someone is paying for the lease for at least the next three years it gives them income and time to get football rolling. As far as the university is concerned they can hold hop scotch tournaments on the field every Saturday. The big picture is that the university has raised just about enough money to fund the football program but needs a few years to properly launch the program. I suppose side show known as the WPS will do until 2013 or so.