Does New Always Mean Better?

It’s human nature to associate something new with something being better.

A new car, a new home, a new outfit or even a new television are just a few of the things we associate with upgrading. In the sports world, new stadiums are certainly the trend these days.

The Atlanta Braves debuted in their new stadium recently and while the early reviews have been positive one has to ponder if new really will mean better in the long run.

It seems hard to imagine that Turner Field, which the Braves began using in the late 1990s, was considered so out-of-date and that a new stadium had to be constructed. Personally, I didn’t really see the need to replace the previous Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, but with the Olympics set for our state in 1996, I guess that was bound to happen.

While Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium (which was also the home of the Atlanta Falcons until the Georgia Dome was opened in 1992) was eventually demolished, at least Turner Field will remain in use by Georgia State University. The Atlanta school plans to use it as its home football stadium.

Even the Georgia Dome is set for the scrap pile with the new corporate stadium set to debut soon for the Atlanta Falcons although talk this week centered on how demolition may be delayed, at least for a little while. It seems the new Falcons stadium is behind schedule and may not be ready for the first game of the 2017 season.

Stadiums have shorter and shorter shelf lives today and you have to wonder whether in another 20 years we’ll be talking about additional new stadiums for the Braves and Falcons.

It’s ironic how the new stadium craze is really just for professional teams. The University of Georgia and Georgia Tech both have the same football stadiums that have been in place for many decades. Yes, both have had improvements, expansions and upgrades through the years but the basic stadiums are still in place.

Perhaps the lone exception to the new stadium craze in professional sports comes in New Orleans where the Superdome is still going strong despite being constructed in the 1960s. Even with the major damage it suffered from a hurricane, the plan was to make repairs rather than build a new one.

Whenever I see the Saints play a home football game now it’s great to see the same stadium that I remember as a child when New Orleans and the Falcons would do battle in those old NFC West matchups.

As far as the new stadium the Braves are now calling home, the biggest issue has to be its location. The fact that it’s inside Cobb County seems odd to me and one has to wonder how traffic will play out, despite the relatively smooth start to the opening of the new facility this past weekend.

It also remains to be seen how things will go at the new home base for the Falcons. Coming off a Super Bowl season, Atlanta fans may be willing to put up with a little more hassle than usual, at least to begin with.

Still, I’m not sure that new always means better. It certainly doesn’t do anything for tradition.

Chris Bridges is a long-time newspaper columnist. He welcomes feedback from readers of The Monticello News at pchrisbridges@gmail.com