Is This A Reason Stadiums Go Cashless?
College players start to make money. The Braves are more than hanging around.
This is a collection of things I learned in Sports this week.
The reason Arthur Blank and the Falcons and the people who run the Braves have gone to cashless policies at their stadiums is more disturbing than I thought. It has nothing to do with making lines move faster and going with the times.
Two stadium workers, who have worked at Turner Field, The Georgia Dome, Truist Park, and Mercedes-Benz Stadium said some employees of non-profits, among other stadium workers, found it easier to steal cash under the old policy of cash and card.
These two workers have been on the front lines at these venues and they have seen the stealing first hand.
“They went card only because they were being stolen from,” one said. “I don’t blame them.”
I was naive, to say the least. I thought the cashless policy was a profit-motive and, to some extent it is. The pro teams are trying to cut their losses from theft.
Friday, at the ballpark, I asked another vendor about the switch to cashless. Same answer. “Inventory control,” he said with a smile. “It’s all easier to track with the card. There is too much stealing.”
Is that it? Is that my proof?
No. Two years ago I was talking with an exec of the Blank business. It was a few weeks after the cashless policy went into affect at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. This person said it was a fact that money was being stolen at the stadium.
Publicly, I don’t remember that being a reason given by the teams for the switch to cashless, for obvious reasons, but it makes a lot of sense now. Like I said, I was naïve.
*It’s been two days since Name Image Likeness and money-making opportunities have begun for college athletes. Yep, sky still in place.
I haven’t seen much from Georgia football players, notably quarterback J.T. Daniels, about how they plan to make some money. There was this from running back Zamir White, a branding of his name. What’s to follow?
Forbes had an early rundown of some the money being paid to college athletes here.
The Hawks Need Threes To Beat The Trees
If the Milwaukee Bucks try and brutalize the Hawks in the paint again tonight in Game 6 in State Farm Arena with superior height, the Hawks need to let it fly from 3. Atlanta cannot stand toe-to-toe with Milwaukee, so turn loose Trae Young, Kevin Huerter, Danilio Gallinari, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and Lou Williams. If Milwaukee goes old school with 2s, the Hawks need to pressure with 3 after 3 after 3.
Atlanta will come out and be more aggressive on defense. They are not going to let Bucks’ center Brook Lopez chain himself down in the lane and score 33 again and lead a 66-36 rout in paint points. The Hawks are going to see if Lopez can pass out of the post once they surround him.
One thing: Nate McMillan has to get in the referees’ ear early about Lopez and Bobby Portis, Jr., camping out in the lane for more than three seconds.
If Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo does not play tonight, and Trae Young plays, the Hawks have a chance to run the Bucks out of the building and force Game 7.
The Braves aren’t dead yet.
The Braves are three games behind the Mets in the National League East. Three games. All the injuries and the rollercoaster season from the bullpen and the Braves are in this thing.
But they still need a better bat in left field.
The General Manager Alex Anthopoulos cannot let this championship window close. Kyle Muller will replace Mike Soroka in the rotation, Cristian Pache will get back to centerfield, and Travis d’Arnaud will be the catcher again by mid-August.
Anthopoulos should not give up three prospects for a three-month rental in left field. He needs to use those three prospects to go get a guy to fully replace left-fielder Marcell Ozuna, who was injured and then arrested for battery on his wife.
This lineup cannot win a championship.
*Here is a link to the story I did this week on Luisangel Acuna, the brother of Ronald Acuna, Jr. It is online now in the AJC and in Sunday’s paper.
*Saw a great tee-shirt in the store Baseballisms at The Battery:
No, it’s Not OK.
The K was backward and in orange. It was a swipe at all the strikeouts in Major League Baseball and the shrugs from data analysts that the whiff is just another out. It’s not just another out. It’s boring for fans. We want the ball in play.
I bought the shirt and took it back up to the Bally Sports TV booth for my friend, Chip Caray. He and I and Tom Glavine were talking before the game about the lack of approach of hitters and the swings and misses.
Chip, sure enough, got a kick out of the tee-shirt.
*And, in case you were wondering, The Chop is dead at Truist Park. The crowd can’t make it work on their own. They need music to kick it off and get rhythm. The large throngs the last two nights made futile attempts, but it was messy and incoherent.
This is a good thing, I think.
Anybody have ideas for what can replace The Chop?
Some stories to follow:
1) Mark Richt and I would talk about our adopted children in 2003-04. Mine was from Russia, his from other parts of the former Soviet Union. He always struck me as a kind man. I hated he got fired from the Georgia job. So this week’s news that he is fighting Parkinson’s is unsettling, to say the least.
2) After former Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce gets back from Tokyo with the USA Olympics team, he could end up on the staff of the Golden State Warriors.
3) College athletes have been doing victory laps all week with the NCAA finally relenting on athletes making money.
Here’s more rejoicing.