Support NeoGAF

[CrunchyFrog]

http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/falcons-deal-whats-going-happen-saints-mercedes-be/nnQss/


So looks like there'll be that awkward overlap for 4 years, and then they won't renew their deal with the Superdome once 2021 comes around, in all likelihood.

Saw this on the news the other day. The rivalry now extends to fighting for sponsors too, I guess! In all honesty though I'm kind of glad, selling out a name as monolithic as the Superdome just didnt sit right with me, and doubly so what with what happened to the arena (the fucking blender? christ almighty)

 

[RBH]

Updated renderings:

http://mercedesbenzstadium.com/gallery/mercedes-benz-stadium-renderings-august-2015/

 

[Enron]

Wow, that looks great.

 

[RBH]

Wow, that looks great.

I like those little bridges next to the glass windows.

 

[RBH]

The Atlanta Falcons plan to announce Tuesday a 10-year deal for the SEC Championship football game to be played in the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, ensuring that one of Atlanta’s signature sports events will remain here long-term.

Neither the Falcons nor the SEC would comment, but people familiar with the plans told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the agreement calls for the game to be played in the new Falcons stadium annually from 2017 through 2026.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey will join Falcons owner Arthur Blank for Tuesday’s announcement at the College Football Hall of Fame. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed also are expected to participate.

http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/college/falcons-sec-set-to-announce-10-year-deal-on-title-/nnZC3/

 

[RBH]

College football’s national championship game is coming to Atlanta.

The marquee event will be played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium – the Falcons’ new home, which is under construction downtown — on Jan. 8, 2018, College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock said this afternoon.

The game will cap the first football season in the stadium, which is slated to open in March 2017.

Atlanta was competing against Miami, Houston and Santa Clara, Calif., for the game.

It’s the second national mega-event awarded to Atlanta’s new $1.4 billion stadium. Late last year, the NCAA decided to play college basketball’s men’s Final Four there in 2020.

http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/college/atlanta-lands-college-football-title-game/npGLg/

 

[RBH]

The city of Atlanta has released new renderings of a planned pedestrian bridge leading into Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Renderings show a serpentine structure made up of a 105-foot bridge with two 400-foot ramps at either end. The bridge will cross Northside Drive and connect the stadium to the Vine City MARTA station.

The city is now accepting contract bids from companies to complete detailed engineering plans for the bridge, which is expected to break ground next summer and open in mid-2017, which is currently budgeted $8 million.

Atlanta Falcons executives view MARTA as one of the top selling points of the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, now under construction in downtown Atlanta.

"The city is working very hard to make sure we deliver a best-in-class bridge," Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed told Atlanta Business Chronicle's Maria Saporta in September.

The bridge is one component of a larger vision to leverage the location of the stadium to rail transit and create a more pedestrian-friendly environment between Westside communities and the Georgia World Congress Center.[/b]

http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/...erings-show-mercedes-benz-stadium-bridge.html

 

[The M.O.B]

These concepts rarely look as extravagant when the practicality and costs come into place.

And that building is going to stick out so Badly in Atlanta



If they made that bridge a moving walkway that would really be something

 

[jmood88]

Throwing all this money at a stadium only to have no home fans show up. Blank better start figuring out how to fix the Falcons.

 

[Gallbaro]

Wait, so you have to walk 900' with elevation to cross a 100' street?

 

[Link]

Wait, so you have to walk 900' with elevation to cross a 100' street?

We're living in the future, baby!

 

[Ninja Scooter]

That looks like a beautiful place to lose a home playoff game.

 

[winjet81]

So how much money is the public being squeezed for to complete this project?

 

[D-Pad]

Looks like an ugly oversized car dealership, tbh.

 

[potam]

So how much money is the public being squeezed for to complete this project?

Well Arthur blank personally beat me up last night and took the $5 out of my wallet, so I guess that much

 

[TyrantII]

Cause why the fuck not when the taxpayers are on the dime.

 

[RBH]

Drone fly-over video of Mercedes-Benz Stadium:



http://mercedesbenzstadium.com/multimedia/videos/drone-fly-over/

 

[Squalor]

How much are they extorting from tax payers?

 

[spyder_ur]

That's a really hideous design, IMO.

 

[Mostmanlyman]

We're living in the future, baby!

Lol.
Yeah it is super practical

 

[djplaeskool]

How much are they extorting from tax payers?

I want to say in the $300MM range.
I believe most of this is coming through an extension of the Hotel/Motel tax in Fulton county
General consensus is that the funding for Mercedes-Benz Stadium isn't nearly as shady as for SunTrust Park (New Braves Stadium)

 

[Squalor]

I want to say in the $300MM range.
I believe most of this is coming through an extension of the Hotel/Motel tax in Fulton county
General consensus is that the funding for Mercedes-Benz Stadium isn't nearly as shady as for SunTrust Park (New Braves Stadium)

The phrasing "isn't nearly as shady" is seen as a positive in this light, haha.

WATTBA

How bad is this Braves thing?

 

[dskillzhtown]

I want to say in the $300MM range.
I believe most of this is coming through an extension of the Hotel/Motel tax in Fulton county
General consensus is that the funding for Mercedes-Benz Stadium isn't nearly as shady as for SunTrust Park (New Braves Stadium)

300MM in the form of a hotel tax isn't a terrible deal at all, especially for a stadium costing well over a billion. Those taxes end up being paid by mostly visitors to the city, not the citizens. Either way, I think it is going to be amazing once it is completed judging by the renders.

 

[djplaeskool]

How bad is this Braves thing?

A lot of 'stuff' happened out of the public eye, and the taxpayer cost is projected to be higher than for Mercedes-Benz. At least for that, we know Arthur Blank is writing the lion's share of the check for that, and the taxes necessary are already itemized. A number of people in Cobb county were PISSED when they approved the amount without a public hearing, and took the issue to the state Supreme Court.

http://www.11alive.com/story/news/l.../supreme-court-braves-stadium-bonds/29455303/

A lot of extra questions have arisen due to the proposed pedestrian bridge over 285, whose estimated cost is approaching $10MM, and the cost of operating additional buses, due to being technically outside of the MARTA system and will need cooperation of the aforementioned and CCT.

http://usa.streetsblog.org/2015/10/30/braves-stadium-relocation-shaping-up-to-be-a-disaster/

I wouldn't quite qualify it as a disaster, per se, but the process hasn't had as much forward facing detail and explanation. When you have both Arthur Blank and Kasim Reed vouching for MB Stadium, there are a lot fewer concerns. Also, MB is literally right next to the Georgia Dome, so there is no need to overhaul transportation. Moving the Braves from downtown to the burbs is a gargantuan task.

 

[AndyD]

Wait, so you have to walk 900' with elevation to cross a 100' street?

At first I thought this was over 285 (the baseball stadium) but I just realized this is the football one not the baseball one. Is it over Peachtree?

 

[TheAbsolution]

At first I thought this was over 285 (the baseball stadium) but I just realized this is the football one not the baseball one. Is it over Peachtree?

Northside Drive I believe.

 

[RBH]

Construction of the downtown stadium that will become home to the Atlanta Falcons and a new professional soccer team won’t be completed in time for a long-planned March 2017 opening.

The new target date for completion of Mercedes-Benz Stadium is June 1, 2017. That would result in the stadium opening in time for the start of the Falcons’ planned first season there. NFL exhibition games are played in August, and the regular season opens in September.

But the delay means Atlanta's new soccer team won’t have use of its home stadium for the first three months of the 2017 season, slated to be Atlanta United’s debut season. MLS teams’ 34-game schedules run from early March until late October.

http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/football/new-falcons-stadium-falls-behind-schedule/np9KJ/


smh

 

[RBH]

 

[RBH]

Mercedes-Benz Stadium — the future home of the Falcons and the Atlanta United soccer team — will have a synthetic turf playing surface produced by GreenFields USA, the teams and the turf company announced Thursday.

Falcons President Rich McKay, in a news release, described GreenField’s “MX 3-Star Turf System” as a “world-class field that is a safer surface for NFL players.”

GreenFields USA, based in Union City, Ga., has its turf system in several soccer stadiums in The Netherlands. The company hasn’t previously provided the turf for an NFL stadium.

Falcons officials initially hoped to have natural grass as the playing surface in their new stadium, but decided in 2013 that the building instead would have artificial turf.

The stadium’s lead architect, Bill Johnson, told the AJC at the time that a detailed “sun study analysis” ruled out natural grass for the retractable-roof stadium because the field wouldn’t get enough sun light to grow the grass. McKay also told the AJC at the time that the multi-purpose nature of the building complicated the idea of natural grass.

Mercedes-Benz Stadium, under construction next to the Georgia Dome, is scheduled to be completed on June 1, 2017.

“Versatility is key for our turf surface, from how the ball rolls for soccer, to safety for football, to what the paint looks like on the field and how natural the grass appears,” Mercedes-Benz Stadium General Manager Scott Jenkins said in the news release announcing the partnership with GreenFields USA.

Testing according to FIFA protocols have shown the chosen synthetic turf system “closely mimics the shock absorption and energy restitution characteristics” of natural grass soccer surfaces, the release said.

http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/football/synthetic-turf-chosen-for-mercedes-benz-stadium/nqR96/


Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwe4BYYHDLs&feature=youtu.be

 

[RBH]

http://www.dirtysouthsoccer.com/201...s-virtual-venue-seating-for-mbs-looks-amazing

 

[Ninja Scooter]

It's going to be a beautiful place for the Falcons to disappoint their fans.

 

[Mindlog]

Falcons updated the model.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

What a beautiful stadium.

 

[CassidyIzABeast]

Fans will get to watch Matty Ice lead their team to a wild card exit in style.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Fans will get to watch Matty Ice lead their team to a wild card exit in style.

Or not watch. You see those suites? Those restaurants? Half the people won't even be there for the game. They mine as well put a shopping mall in that sommbitch.

 

[jmood88]

Fans will get to watch Matty Ice lead their team to a wild card exit in style.

Fans of the opposing team, maybe.

 

[Paches]

Or not watch. You see those suites? Those restaurants? Half the people won't even be there for the game. They mine as well put a shopping mall in that sommbitch.

Going for the Niners model I see.

 

[RBH]

New video focusing on the construction of the roof of the stadium:


http://mercedesbenzstadium.com/video/raising-the-roof/?_cldee=dGNiZXV0bGVyQGdtYWlsLmNvbQ==&urlid=2

 

[LongDongJunon]

That stadium looks like the perfect place for the final battle of an action film.

 

[Vulcano's assistant]

That stadium looks like the perfect place for the final battle of an action film.

even better if it is still under construction

 

[RBH]

As a stated goal from the outset of design, Mercedes-Benz Stadium is reimagining the fan experience. Today in the building’s first completed concession stand, stadium leadership announced a game-changing food and beverage pricing and quality model designed to address the top reported pain point for football fans and soccer supporters in surveys about the live event experience.

Upon opening in 2017, Mercedes-Benz Stadium will offer food and beverage options developed to deliver what fans want – variety, speed of service, quality and value. The fan-first menu at Mercedes-Benz Stadium will include the most popular items priced as follows without compromising quality:

• $2 – Non-alcoholic beverage products with unlimited free refills (at freestanding refill stations)
• $2 – Dasani bottled water; hot dogs; pretzels; popcorn
• $3 – Peanuts; pizza; nachos; waffle fries
• $5 – 12 oz. domestic beer

The menu and pricing model – which will allow a family of four to consume the typical game-day purchases for $28 or less – will be in effect for Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United games, as well as major events at Mercedes-Benz Stadium including the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, SEC Championship Game, the College Football National Championship (2018) and the NCAA Men’s Final Four slated for 2020. The pricing and product offerings will be the same for concerts, conventions and other special events booked at the stadium.

To improve speed and quality of service, Mercedes-Benz Stadium has partnered with its design team, construction partners and Levy Restaurants to create what will be an exceptional experience for fans, employing several new operational and design elements that include:

• More than 670 concession points-of-sale (65 percent more than our fans currently enjoy)
  [*]Self-service soda refill stations away from the concession stands (to increase speed, shorten lines)
• Increased on-site kitchen and cooking capacity to ensure freshness, quality and speed of service
• Whole-dollar pricing for ease and efficiency

http://mercedesbenzstadium.com/news-community/fans/



Wow, those are some great prices. A much welcomed change.

 

[dskillzhtown]

Those are some great prices there. I wish we had those here in Houston.

 

[OriginofHysteria]

I'm a huge fan of the inner ring video board up top.

 

[ironcreed]

Such a beautiful stadium for such a shitty franchise. Yes, I am a Falcons fan and am not just talking shit.

 

[bucknuticus]

Kind of sad when "we wont fuck you over with food prices" has to be a press release. But good on the falcons.

 

[GitarooMan]

Wow those prices are very reasonable for a sporting event, I'm honestly surprised.

 

[outunderthestars]

http://mercedesbenzstadium.com/news-community/fans/



Wow, those are some great prices. A much welcomed change.

They seem to be doing everything right with this project.

 

[TheAbsolution]

Very nice prices on food. I am impressed.

 

[Jeffrey]

wonder if this will force the other sports in atlanta to 'price match'.

 

[TS-08]

Being able to buy a hot dog, a pretzel, a popcorn and a refillable 20 .oz soda for ten bucks at an NFL game feels like achieving the American Dream.

Edit - wow it's eight bucks. Even better. I used the $4 from the souvenir cup. This really does go against everything we've been led to believe about concession pricing.