One church down, one to go for NFL Atlanta Falcons

After several months of negotiating, the NFL Atlanta Falcons reached a preliminary agreement to buy a church on the site of their proposed stadium. According to the Atlanta Constitution-Journal, the Friendship Baptist Church will receive $19.5 million from the Falcons, but before the Falcons can claim victory, they still need to reach a deal with yet another Baptist church.

The Falcons are now negotiating with Mount Vernon Baptist Church, but similar to the other negotiations early on, the two sides are far apart. The Falcons latest offer was $6.2 million, while the church is looking for closer to $20 million.  The breakthrough on the first deal happened only after current Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed recruited former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young to help advance the previously stalled negotiations. If the first agreement holds any clues, Mount Vernon will make out just fine, although the Falcons may need a little more divine mayoral intervention to make it happen.

 

Atlanta Baptist Church’s Hard Ball Stadium Negotiations

Friendship Baptist Church holding out for more coin from the Atlanta Falcons.

The Friendship Baptist church is all that stands between the Atlanta Falcons and the perfect location for their new stadium. These church owners, however, have been far from amicable in their negotiations.

The Friendship Baptist Church rejected the team’s initial $13.5 million offer for church building and property. The Church’s counterproposal requested nearly double that amount – a cool $24.54 million. The Falcons then increased their second offer to $15.5 million dollar, and now it’s in the Church’s court.

With a name like “Friendship” Baptist, one would hope all parties can come to a win-win solution. I’d have to imagine Falcons fans flocked to Friendship Baptist this weekend for mass, hoping to get their prayers answered.