Stadium authority to vote on deal with Falcons

ATLANTA (AP) The Georgia World Congress Center Authority plans to vote Monday on a preliminary and nonbinding agreement to build a new stadium for the Atlanta Falcons.

The board is expected to vote on a 24-page framework negotiated by the authority and the team. Under the deal, the state would own the stadium and the Falcons would operate it. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the project would be funded by a combination of taxes, team funds and the sale of personal seat licenses.

"The term sheet is an important piece because it sets, really, the sort of foundational business relationship with the team that is carried into" later binding agreements, GWCCA executive director Frank Poe said. "It's basically setting the skeleton, if you will the framework. And you build muscle on that as you go through each step."

Falcons spokeswoman Kim Shreckengost declined to comment ahead of the meeting.

The proposal calls for the construction of a retractable-roof stadium at one of two locations near the current Georgia Dome. The current stadium would be demolished after the new facility is finished. Cost estimates for the project have ranged from $948 million to more than $1 billion.