Braves' Cobb County Ballpark Breaks Ground, Gets Name

The Atlanta Braves have officially broken ground on their new baseball stadium in Cobb County and announced the facility’s name during a small ceremony Tuesday morning.

According to WSB Radio, SunTrust Park will be the home of the Braves starting in 2017. The naming agreement with the financial company runs for 25 years and gives SunTrust signage in and around the ballpark and extra promotional opportunities. The Braves have also released new renderings of the ballpark.

SunTrust Park is expected to hold 41,500 people and will be part of a mixed-use development that will include adjacent retail and living space, Fox Sports reported earlier this month.

Although work has been underway at the site near interstates 75 and 285 just outside Smyrna city limits for months, the official groundbreaking ceremony was held at 11 a.m. Tuesday.

Despite the fanfare and news of the stadium’s name, there are those in Cobb County who are still fighting against the project, claiming the Cobb County government overstepped its boundaries by issuing bonds to pay for the stadium without first putting the matter before a referendum.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, an attorney and a Cobb County resident are appealing Judge Robert Leonard’s July decision to validate the issuance of $397 million in bonds to pay for the construction of the Smyrna area stadium because they argue local governments cannot assume such debt without putting the proposal to the voters in a referendum.

Cobb County entered into an intergovernmental contract between itself and the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority to issue the bonds, but the latter entity will have no hand in repaying the debt or building or operating the stadium.

A Braves spokesman has acknowledged the appeal, but said that they have “full confidence” that the validation will be upheld by the Georgia Supreme Court.

Image Credit: Atlanta Braves