A mass of people comparable to the entire population of North Carolina or Michigan visited the OTP megaplex anchored by the Atlanta Braves last year.
That’s according to Cobb County finance director Bill Volckmann’s annual report on the Braves and Truist Park delivered last week to Cobb’s Board of Commissioners.
Six years after the first pitch at what was then SunTrust Park, Volckmann’s findings indicate The Battery Atlanta complex finally emerged in 2022 as a net positive for Cobb County taxpayers. That means the mixed-use district generated more property tax revenue than the portion Cobb taxpayers are on the hook for to cover this year’s debt service, the county reports.
Visitor counts at The Battery in 2022 reached a record 10 million, resulting in what Cobb County leadership is calling an “economic engine.”
Volckmann said the county netted $400,0000 above requirements for the debt service for the first time since the county’s investment of hundreds of millions of dollars in the stadium and entertainment district began, marking a “milestone moment.”
Cobb County’s initial estimate of $6.4 million per year in debt service from a general fund was reduced to $2.1 million in 2022 because “other funding sources increased dramatically,” per Volckmann’s figures, as a county recap states. The Battery Atlanta also forked over $2.5 million in property taxes to the county last year, per the finance director’s data.
The stadium-facing side of TK Elevator’s Regional Business Support Center at The Battery. Josh Green/Urbanize Atlanta
According to county officials, taxable property values at The Battery Atlanta’s location have spiked from $5 million in 2014, when development began, to $736 million last year. The district and its MLB stadium channeled $38 million in tax revenue to Cobb County, the State of Georgia, and Cobb’s school district in 2022, per the county’s accounting.
A year removed from a World Series championship, the Braves set a regular-season attendance record last year, with an average of more than 38,000 fans counted per game, as the Sports Business Journal reported in September. The total number of tickets sold was second only to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Courtesy of Cumberland CID
Officials with Braves Development Company, the team’s real estate arm, say The Battery has managed to establish itself as a popular draw in the offseason.
Mike Plant, Braves Development Company president and CEO, recently told commissioners some 200 company teams from across the globe have toured the stadium and mixed-use complex, adding: “We think we have the secret sauce, and they believe that too."
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