The Falcons christened the Georgia Dome in 1992. In 20 seasons, they’ve used it barely 200 times. Naturally, then, it’s obsolete and must be replaced.
The Falcons prefer that it be replaced with an open-air stadium. Tim Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution explains that the Georgia World Congress Authority, the state agency that operates the Georgia Dome, believes that the team’s preference for a building without a roof “presents a number of complex issues.”
Given that the GWCA and the Falcons are 14 months into their negotiations, that’s not a good sign.
The problem is that the Georgia Dome hosts multiple annual events that wish to stay indoors, such as the SEC title game and the Chick-Fil-A Bowl. And so the new stadium will need to have a retractable roof, or an open-air venue will have to be built in the vicinity of the Georgia Dome.
The Falcons have yet to take a final position on the matter. “I know they are working aggressively to get to a point where they can come back and say, ‘This is the path we want to be on,’” GWCC Authority executive director Frank Poe said.
Presumably, that path won’t be “to Los Angeles.”