COMMENTARY : OLD STADIUM NEEDS NEW LIFE.

Byline: Furman Bisher Cox News Service

All right, those people with a mind toward Atlanta's future, who can see beyond the end of their noses, and with no personal profit involved, have gone public. They call themselves SOS, for Save Our Stadium. More to the point, they aim to provide Atlanta with a second major stadium facility befitting a city of its stature, one that doesn't have to be built. It's already there.

Rather than destroy Atlanta Stadium, convert it to a facility that would fill several purposes in the civic life of the city. Rather than leave it in the hands of politicians, of the Braves, of so-called neighborhood hucksters, let the people speak. Having said that, let's examine the possibilities one more time and examine just what the exponents of destruction are saying.

The Braves are getting what they want, a new stadium. They made a deal. ``We expect to live up to every contract we have with the city,'' Stan Kasten said.

For many seasons, the Braves put such a shoddy series of teams on the field they provided very little toward paying for the first stadium provided for them. Kasten is an entrepreneur trying to protect his company from competition across the street. He needs the old stadium space for parking, about 2,700 spaces is the figure I get. If they need parking, it is far more logical to use the money it would cost to destroy the stadium and build multi-level parking decks to serve both facilities. There is more to sports in Atlanta than the Braves.

I've read of how the old stadium ``deteriorate'' the community. Wrong. To the contrary, the stadium saved that community. Resurrected it from rubble and ruin. That's all that was there. There was no community.

I won't tick off the number of uses the old stadium can provide by merely taking out 15-20,000 lower-level seats. I will repeat the exciting prospect of turning the left- field portion, where he hit his 715th home run, into a Hank Aaron Museum. Name the stadium for Aaron, I repeat.

A further projection: The Georgia Sports Hall of Fame is looking for a home. Macon has been a groping candidate, with an $8 million promise from the state. I'm opposed to the use of taxpayers' money for such projects, but if it is to be, Atlanta Stadium is a much more inviting situation, with the space and development that $8 million can provide. Think of it, a doubleheader. Hank Aaron Museum and the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame for those who come to Braves games and events in the old stadium.

Major League Soccer said it had an interest in Atlanta, but there was no place to play. Track and field died with the Olympic Games.