It’s only a nonbinding agreement and it still needs legislature approval. But today could be the first major step toward a new stadium in downtown Atlanta for the Falcons.

The Georgia World Congress Center Authority board plans to vote Monday morning on the framework for a possible deal to build a new retractable roof stadium and tear down the Georgia Dome. An agenda for the meeting Monday shows the authority will consider a nonbinding agreement covering terms negotiated with the Falcons.

The term sheet lays out some key details. The 24-page document shows the state would own the stadium.  But the Falcons would operate it and get all of the revenue.

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."

A new stadium is estimated to cost about $1 billion dollars.  An eight percent hotel/motel tax would cover about $300 million, while $24 million would come from the state for land purchases, $30 million from a construction tax rebate, with the Falcons footing the rest of the bill.

The stadiums location is still not decided, but there are two locations to pick from.

“(The stadium) will be situated on the GWCCA campus on one of two proposed site locations, either north or south of the Georgia Dome,” the term sheet says.

The south site, which has gotten the most attention since the spring, is adjacent to the Dome, near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Northside Drive. The north site, which was the focus during the first year-plus of negotiations, is about a half mile from the Dome, near the intersection of Northside Drive and Ivan Allen Jr. Boulevard. A final decision on the site has been deferred until the negotiation of the memorandum of understanding early next year.

The stadium is expected to be completed by before the 2017 NFL season.  The new lease would last 30 years and the Falcons would agree to stay in Atlanta when their current lease ends in 2020.

The Legislature would have raise the borrowing limit for the Congress Center to sell enough bonds to cover their part of the revenue needed to finance the deal.

It’s only a nonbinding agreement and it still needs legislature approval. But today’s vote could be the first major step toward building a new stadium in Atlanta and tearing down the Georgia Dome.