The Atlanta Falcons may have underestimated the cost of the their new retractable stadium that was supposed to run at about $948 million. The Atlanta Journal Constitution sourced two professors who study stadium deals said estimates are generally low to make such projects palatable to governments and the public.
One sports management professor said he believed the Falcons are "trying to price point this so they can say that they can do this for just under $1 billion."
"One of the real rules in these analyses is they always underestimate cost," said J.C. Bradbury, chairman of the Health, Physical Education, and Sport Science department at Kennesaw State University.
"When they say it will cost $900 million, I'm thinking, ‘How much over a billion is it really going to be?‘"
The Georgia Dome that the Falcons use now is supposed to be demolished in the plan to build a new stadium.
Read more about the Falcons at The Falcoholic.