The Braves are abject evil. I've known that since I was 4
If there's any truth that a Pirates fan who lived through the '91 and '92 NLCS knows, it's this one. Imagine growing up in a market that's pretty much their territory. We went to Turner Field on an overnight field study to Atlanta when I was in 9th grade - Bucs and Braves. Pittsburgh managed to win that night and I think I was the only person that left that game happy.
Anyway on topic, the Bloomberg article is quite interesting. As the article notes, the Braves are the only team that controls their entire farm system - the exception is at High-A and it's not for lack of trying. A couple years ago, when the Braves were affiliated with the Lynchburg Hillcats, they had a deal in principal to purchase the Hillcats, relocate them to Wilmington, NC (which had been without affiliated ball since 2001 when the Low-A Wilmington Waves moved to Albany, GA after just a single season) and then move their Appy League club in Danville to Lynchburg. The deal ultimately fell through when Wilmington voters refused to approve a new ballpark. The article also doesn't note just how many moves their Low-A club has been through over the years:
Follow along:
Lexington, NC - 1967 (1 season)
Greenwood, SC - 1968-1979 (12 seasons)
Anderson, SC - 1980-1984 (5 seasons)
Sumter, SC - 1985-1990 (6 seasons)
Macon, GA - 1991-2002 (12 seasons)
Rome, GA - 2003-present (14 seasons)
The problem that this generates is when teams are legitimately in need of new ballparks, voters and town councils become wary because of things like this. Savannah, for instance, faced an issue where Grayson Stadium was basically obsolete. The city didn't provide a replacement and so the team moved to a new park in Columbia, SC. Columbia, in turn, lost their team to Greenville, SC (replacing the Double-A team the city lost to Pearl, MS) after Capital City Stadium was deemed pretty much unplayable by the South Atlantic League.
For what it's worth I went to a game at the old Greenville park and it was serviceable. Not the nicest nor most convenient to downtown but serviceable. My biggest knock on it was that there's no awning or roof of any kind and that makes things a little unbearable, especially for a day game like the one I went to (saw the Greenville Bombers play the Hickory Crawdads and snagged Neil Walker's autograph)