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2008 is starting out fine. The Braves have decided to dump the dump in Richmond and move it's AAA franchise to Gwinnett County Georgia. For those of you who are not familiar with this little piece of God's country, Gwinnett County is in Metro Atlanta with most of the county a little east and northeast of the city.



And they are planning to build the stadium about 10 miles from my house. Ahhhh....ML baseball in my own back yard. Ya'll come on down now and we will show you a little Southern hospitality!

Can Metro Atlants support both the Braves and the AAA affiliate?

Minor League baseball is great stuff. With kids at that age, you have got to be a happy camper.



[ January 16, 2008, 10:34 AM: Message edited by: DOUGHBOYS ]

We are very happy with this opportunity. And yes, Gwinnett and surrounding counties do have the ability to support. I think the Richmond Braves drew about 675k attendees last year and that is in a town that is primarily football/basketball centric. Gwinnett already supports a ML Hockey Team (Gladiators), and Arena Football Team, and an basketball team (ABA).



The thought on the Gwinnett Braves is that while most Atlantians will go to The Ted and blow big bucks on the weekend, the AAA franchise will draw the week-day crowd with kids (and other fanatics like me) who look for cheaper, less time intensive entertainment.

Is the Gwinnett ABA team the "Gwizzlies"? They were supposed to come up here for two games last week, but we were told they folded because they had less than 100 fans at their last game. They never showed up. What's the story there?

As a 25 year Atlantan that is a good day for Gwinnett Wayne. We have the Double A team for the Dodgers here and have enjoyed Matt Kemp, Russell Martin and Chad Billingsley the last few years. I am in Atlanta a few times a year and I am much more likely to catch the AAA game than fight to go down to the Ted which is my least favorite of all the new parks.

Originally posted by bluenose:

Is the Gwinnett ABA team the "Gwizzlies"? They were supposed to come up here for two games last week, but we were told they folded because they had less than 100 fans at their last game. They never showed up. What's the story there? I hadn't heard if the ABA "Gwizzlies" (what the xxxx is a "Gwizzlies"...a mountain man with a speach impediment?) folded or not, but they play in Macon Georgia, about 1.5 hours south of Atlanta proper.



The Gwinnett ABA team is the "Vision". I am not a big fan of Semi-Pro basketball, so I have never attended a game. There is a Will Farrell movie coming out about Semi-Pro basketball, so that will probably be as close as I will come to attending one.

Originally posted by Chest Rockwell:

As a 25 year Atlantan that is a good day for Gwinnett Wayne. We have the Double A team for the Dodgers here and have enjoyed Matt Kemp, Russell Martin and Chad Billingsley the last few years. I am in Atlanta a few times a year and I am much more likely to catch the AAA game than fight to go down to the Ted which is my least favorite of all the new parks. I read in the AJC this morning that some of the talent the Braves have stockpiled in Mississippi at the AA level will now have a better chance of getting some AAA exposure because the team will be so close to the home park. It will be nice to get a first hand preview of the equivalent of Kemp, Russell, Billingsley!

I have no idea what a "Gwizzly" is but since they are/were the Georgia Gwizzlies I was guessing they were from GW-innett. Guessed wrong.



I have season tickets to the ABA team here (Halifax Rainmen). Far superior to Canadian University ball, which is much weaker than US college (yes yes the Fighting Illini lost to Concordia pre-season, but that would be equivalent to the USA hockey team not only beating the Soviets in Lake Placid, but doing it while ewaring rubber boots). Tickets inexpensive and it's very family friendly. There's the Hawks and lots of good college ball where you are; up here, not so much.

To me the minor league experience is a lot more enjoyable than the Bigs.

Faces instead of uniforms, seeing players grow, after inning promos, cheaper food and drink, less hassles and all for more than half the price. Hard to beat.