Residents stunned by allegation Braves shortchanged community
Daniel Johnston
Published Apr 12, 2026
ATLANTA -- Residents around Turner Field say they are stunned by the allegation that the Atlanta Braves have shortchanged their neighborhood fund by some $400,000.
The Braves deny they have stiffed the community by allegedly withholding money from parking revenue.
The Atlanta Braves collect the parking fees in the big paved lots surrounding Turner Field – even during most special events when the team isn’t playing baseball. Officials say the team is supposed to share fifty percent of its special event parking revenue with the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority – but paid only eight percent – leading to what the recreation authority described as a $400,000 shortfall.
"That’s a lot of money. And that’s money that could be used in a lot of tangible ways in our neighborhood," said Christopher Lemons, president of the Peoplestown Neighborhood Association. The authority’s share of parking money is supposed to benefit the SMP Fund, which benefits the surrounding neighborhoods of Summerhill, Mechanicsville and Peoplestown.
Documents reveal what had been months of hidden acrimony between the Braves and their landlord at Turner Field. In a March email to Braves vice president Mike Plant, authority director Keisha Lance Bottoms bemoaned the Braves’ “inability to comprehend, acknowledge and abide by (the) terms” of the parking agreement. The same day, Plant had complained by email of Lance Bottoms’ “lack of understanding and recognition of the underlying agreements.”
The Braves front office has declined to answer questions about the dispute. Late Friday, it released a statement saying the allegation "reflected a position contrary to the one they held for the past 19 years. We reviewed their documents and notified them of numerous errors in their assumptions and are continuing to work through those with AFCRA. We are disappointed in the timing of this release as we enter our final week at Turner Field."
Some residents said privately they are heartened that Lance Bottoms has gone to bat for the neighborhoods' share of the money. Lemons says the dispute is mind boggling – especially as he watches the Braves build a stadium complex in Cobb County worth more than a billion dollars.
"For the Braves to just kind of try to fink out on it, especially after years of being there, and (for) the amount of $400,000?" Lemons asked. "Why is it so hard for them to do the right thing by neighborhoods?"
The Atlanta Braves released a statement on Friday saying:
Over the past 19 years, the Atlanta Braves have contributed more than $7 million into the SMP Community Fund, which is managed and controlled by the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority (AFCRA). The Braves organization has no role in the distribution of the SMP funds into the communities surrounding Turner Field. In addition to our SMP contributions, the Atlanta Braves Foundation has invested more than $1 million, as well as thousands of volunteer hours, directly into the communities surrounding Turner Field.
Earlier this year, AFCRA presented us with allegations of outstanding parking revenue from special events, all of which took place prior to this year and which reflected a position contrary to the one they held for the past 19 years. We reviewed their documents and notified them of numerous errors in their assumptions and are continuing to work through those with AFCRA. We are disappointed in the timing of this release as we enter our final week at Turner Field and absolutely dispute the representation of this in media reports.
The Braves organization has shown its sincere commitment to the communities surrounding Turner Field in many ways over the past 50 years and will continue to do so, even after our move to SunTrust Park in 2017.
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