Originally Posted by
wilson
Yes, exactly.
Long story short(ish):
About a month after the conclusion of the 2013 season, the Barves announced the consummation of a backroom deal that would move them out of the city of Atlanta and into Cobb County. They proclaimed that it would move them closer to their ticket-buying fanbase and alleviate the difficulties of getting to Turner Field (the stadium they played in for two decades following the 1996 Olympics, a building that Atlanta got literally for free), owing to the fact that traffic sucks and public transit in Atlanta is underdeveloped.
Nevermind that the very reason Atlanta's transit infrastructure is underdeveloped precisely because of 6 decades of obstructionist white flight politics centered directly in Cobb County. In the ensuing years, the Barves and their hypocritical politician partners (the ones who are adamantly opposed to "government handouts," but who managed to find half a billion dollars in tax revenue to help buy a new stadium while simultaneously furloughing teachers) then made it abundantly clear that this was about prioritizing certain parts of the fanbase and certain elements of the Atlanta region's populace:
Just this week, the team amplified the 8 years of dog-whistles by inviting Cobb County native Travis Tritt to sing the national anthem just a few days after he made headlines by canceling all of his tour dates in areas with vaccine mandates of any kind.
The Barves can burn in hell.