World Series could bring up to $24 million to Atlanta area, economist predicts
ATLANTA - In the coming days, an untold number of baseball fans will come to the Atlanta metro area to witness history.
Each game could pump $8 million into the local economy, Dr. Bruce Seaman, an economics professor at Georgia State University predicted.
Truist Park will host games three and four of the World Series later this week, along with game five on Sunday if needed.
Businesses in Cobb County are gearing up for the big crowds.
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"We’re going to be crazy," said Nicole Williams, a worker at Baseballism.
A manager for the baseball apparel store said thanks in part to the Braves’ strong postseason performance, profits are up nearly 400 percent compared to this time last year.
Across the street, at the men’s hair salon Van Michael, there’s been a big spike in business in recent days thanks to the National League Championship Series – even though haircuts and baseball don’t necessarily go hand in hand.
"People want to get their beards cleaned up, get the full shave," said Daniel Holzberger, the salon’s manager. "A couple of people had been having a little bit of liquid courage and decided to cut all of their hair off."
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Back at Baseballism, Williams said they’re stocking up ahead of the big week.
"You have people wanting to go to the World Series just in general, you have Braves fans that are of course buying tickets, and then you have people who just wanted to go to Atlanta who missed out on the All-Star Game," she said.
Earlier this year, Major League Baseball moved the All-Star Game out of Georgia in protest over the controversial new voting law.
It’s not clear exactly how much of an impact there was, but Dr. Seaman said this week will more than makeup for it.
"Certainly the World Series will replace the All-Star Game, there’s no question about that," Seaman said. "Any loss will be more than replaced."
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Braves depart for Houston
Fans swarmed outside the third base gate on Monday morning as the Atlanta Braves left Truist Park in red carpet style. The team was cheered on as they boarded a bus to the airport. The Braves will play in the World Series for the first time in 21 years. They face the Astros at Minute Maid Park in Houston on Tuesday.
Moments after the Braves’ big win on Saturday, Gov. Brian Kemp, who pioneered the controversial legislation, took to Twitter.
"While Stacey Abrams and the MLB stole the All-Star Game from hardworking Georgians, the Braves earned their trip to the World Series this season and are bringing it home to Georgia," tweeted Kemp.
Abrams’ spokesperson Seth Bringman fired back in a statement to FOX 5.
"As Braves fans across the country were celebrating, Brian Kemp swung and missed again with his bizarre deflection of blame for the harm to Georgians resulting from a bill that he signed," Bringman said in an email.
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FOX 5's Ron Gant recalls 1991 World Series
It was the beginning of the Braves Golden age. Atlanta was not known for being a winning team until the 1990s. In 1991, it was known as the Worst to First season putting the Braves in the big show for the first time in almost 40 years. Good Day Atlanta's Ron Gant, who was part of that team, talks about what it felt like and how this team feels similar.
However, when all is said and done, Dr. Seaman said the economic impact of either baseball events will ultimately be a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things.
"There is going to be an economic impact," Seaman said. "But anybody who thinks there’s going to be a huge economic impact either in total dollars or in percentage of the total relevant economy is certainly going to be disappointed."
The majority of the economic activity surrounding the World Series will be surrounding the stadium, but the rest of the metro area could see a boost with people coming in from out of town to catch the games.
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