Mayor Reed: Atlanta will lose out if stadium deal not approved - DC Breaking Local News Weather Sports FOX 5 WTTG

Mayor Kasim Reed says the city will lose out if it fails to approve a new multi-purpose football stadium in downtown Atlanta

In Mayor Reed's view, the city will reap benefits and have virtually no risk.

The mayor laid out the parameters of a deal in an informal session conveyed by Atlanta City Council President Ceasar Mitchell on Friday.

The mayor backs a commitment to use $200 million in public funds from the city's hotel-motel tax, which he says would come mostly from visitors.  The Falcons would contribute the remaining $800 million of the cost of the new stadium.

"I'm going to show you that the city of Atlanta is not going to be a back stop for the debt. So if it all fell apart, the people that would be holding the bag would be the people that purchased the bonds.  I'm going to show you no other city in America did a better deal. And I'm going to show you we are going to put thousands of people back to work," Reed said.

One Buckhead council member raised another cost concern.

"What I hear the most about is the risk on the infrastructure," Atlanta City Council Member Yolanda Adrean.

Reed acknowledged that there is no agreement on how an unknown amount of infrastructure cost will be born, and what those costs will be depends on the eventual site. One potential site is by the World Congress Center where trucks currently dock; the other site is closest to the existing dome, which has a different price.

"I don't want to be presumptuous and certainly speak for my colleagues when I say that I think there is strong support for the Falcons and this deal within the Council. Certainly it takes eight votes but it takes eight votes to really make an agreement," Mitchell told Reed.

At one point, Reed smiled confidently saying that he would like and perhaps expects to get 11 or 12 "yes" votes out of the 15 possible.