Mercedes-Benz Stadium

Mercedes-Benz Stadium
The Mercedes-Benz Stadium shortly before completion (August 2017)
Earlier names
New Atlanta Stadium (planning and construction phase)
Data
place	35 Northside Drive Northwest Atlanta , Georgia 30313
Coordinates	33 ° 45 '19.2 "  N , 84 ° 24' 3.2"  W Coordinates: 33 ° 45 '19.2 "  N , 84 ° 24' 3.2"  W.
owner	Georgia World Congress Center Authority
operator	Atlanta Falcons Football Club
start of building	19th May 2014
opening	26th August 2017
First game	August 26, 2017 Atlanta Falcons - Arizona Cardinals 14:24 ( Preseason ) September 17, 2017 Atlanta Falcons - Green Bay Packers 34:23 ( Regular Season )
surface	artificial grass
costs	1.4 billion US dollars
architect	360 Architecture TVS Design Goode Van Slyke Stanley Beaman & Sears
capacity	71,000 seats (NFL football, expandable to 75,000) 42,500 seats (MLS football, expandable to 71,000) 83,000 seats (NCAA college basketball)
Societies)
Atlanta Falcons ( NFL , since 2017) Atlanta United ( MLS , since 2017)
Events
Peach Bowl ( NCAA , from 2017) Celebration Bowl (NCAA, from 2017) MLS Cup (2018) MLS All-Star Game 2018 Super Bowl LIII (2019) Final Four of the 2020 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship Concerts

The Mercedes-Benz Stadium is an American football and soccer stadium with a closable roof in the US city ​​of Atlanta in the state of Georgia . In August 2017, it replaced the Georgia Dome as the home of the Atlanta Falcons in the National Football League (NFL).

history

The new arena was built in the immediate vicinity south of the old home of the Falcons . Furthermore, Atlanta United , a football franchise of Major League Soccer , which was founded in 2014, will host its home games in the new sports arena. The venue offers around 71,000 seats for Falcons games . It can be expanded to 75,000 seats for special events such as a Super Bowl . When the new MLS team starts in the stadium, there will be around 29,000 seats available on the lower tier.

According to early plans from 2011, the cost of construction should amount to 700 million US dollars . A further increase in construction costs became known in early December 2014. Initially, the cost rose to $ 1 billion. After 1.2 billion US dollars in the meantime, they were increased to 1.4 billion US dollars at the end of 2014. On November 14, 2014, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) announced that the Final Four of the 2020 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship will be held at the new venue. For this event, the stadium, including the interior, will offer up to 83,000 seats. The city of Atlanta applied with the new building for the Super Bowl LIII in 2019 (Sunday, February 3, 2019). On May 24, 2016, the NFL announced that the event would take place in Atlanta.

Until August 2015, the new building was named New Atlanta Stadium . On August 24, 2015, Arthur Blank, the owner of the Atlanta Falcons, announced that Mercedes-Benz USA will be the name sponsor of the new arena and that it will be called Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the future . The contract has a total term of 27 years until 2042. Nothing was known about the financial volume of the contract. But it is the highest single sponsorship contract in the history of Mercedes-Benz. In May 2016, Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Company became a beverage partner of the new stadium. The license agreement has a term of ten years. At around 630 refreshment stands, drinks from the brand are sold for games by the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United. Coca-Cola has been a partner of the Falcons since 1966 .

After several delays (the complicated steel roof construction and the 335 meter long video screen ring under the circular roof opening caused particular difficulties) the inauguration and the opening party were celebrated on August 26, 2017. In a preseason game , the Atlanta Falcons faced the Arizona Cardinals . The home side lost in their new home with 14:24. In the first game of the regular season on September 17, 2017, the Falcons defeated the Green Bay Packers with 34:23.

On the seventh game day of Major League Soccer 2017 , the Atlanta United match against Orlando City (3: 3) on September 16 attracted a total of 70,425 spectators to the new stadium. This represented a new attendance record for the MLS. The old record with 69,255 viewers came from 1996 at a home game of the Los Angeles Galaxy in the Rose Bowl . For the first home game of Atlanta United in Major League Soccer 2018 against DC United (3-1), 72,035 spectators gathered in the stadium on March 11th. Atlanta broke its own attendance record, which was set on October 22, 2017 with 71,824 spectators against Toronto FC (2: 2). The three best-attended games of the MLS thus took place in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

In October 2017, the MLS awarded the All-Star Game 2018 to Atlanta in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. On December 8, 2018, the MLS Cup took place in front of 73,019 spectators in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Atlanta United won the final 2-0 over the Portland Timbers .

Almost a year after the opening, the closable roof is fully functional. On July 26, 2018, the construction was declared ready for use. Previously, only two Falcons games and one United game were held in the open air as there were repeated problems with the roof. Opening and closing was demonstrated during a media day. It took eight minutes and ten seconds to open the roof. The closing process took seven minutes. The architects had expected a time of up to twelve minutes.

gallery

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  The stadium interior in August 2017

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  Animation of the closable roof structure

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  Bird's-eye animation

Web links

Commons : Mercedes-Benz Stadium  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of the Mercedes-Benz stage (English)
• New Stadium Project (NSP). In: hhrmjv.com (English)
• Mercedes-Benz Stadium. In: stadiumsofprofootball.com (English)
• Master Plan Phase III - New Open Air NFL Stadium. In: blogandtackle.net (PDF; English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Tim Tucker: Comparing Braves, Falcons Stadium Deals . In: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution , Nov. 14, 2013. 
2. ↑ Tim Tucker: Falcon's Set Ground-Breaking Ceremony for Monday . In: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution , May 14, 2014. 
3. ↑ Tim Tucker: At Stadium Groundbreaking, Blank Lobbies for a Super Bowl . In: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution , May 19, 2014. 
4. ↑ Mercedes-Benz Stadium to get GreenFields MX 3-STAR Turf System. In: bizjournals.com , February 18, 2016 (English).
5. ↑ Dan Hanzus: Atlanta Falcons' Stadium Concepts a Peek Into Future . National Football League . April 30, 2013. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
6. ^ ^{A b c} Atlanta Falcons Move to Next Stages of Stadium Design Project . Atlanta Falcons. June 18, 2013. Archived from the original on October 17, 2014. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 28, 2014. 
7. ↑ Roof and video wall cause problems. In: stadionwelt.de , February 25, 2016.
8. ^ General Project Description for All Contractors. ( Memento of the original of July 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: gwcc.com ( PDF , English). 
9. ↑ Atlanta: New MLS club to start playing in 2017. In: stadiumdb.com , April 18, 2014 (English).
10. ↑ Atlanta lands Major League Soccer expansion team for 2017. In: foxsports.com , April 16, 2014 (English).
11. ↑ Falcons' push for open-air stadium gets lift. In: ajc.com , February 22, 2011 (English).
12. ↑ New Atlanta Falcons stadium's cost will 'rise up' to $ 1.4 billion. In: theurbandaily.com , December 2, 2014 (English).
13. ↑ Five future Final Four sites announced - Phoenix, San Antonio, Minneapolis, Atlanta and Indy for 2017-21. NCAA , accessed June 27, 2020 . 
14. ↑ Seven surprising ways Mercedes-Benz Stadium will change the game for fans. In: ajc.com , December 18, 2015 (English).
15. ^ Atlanta, South Florida, LA chosen to host Super Bowls. In: nfl.com , May 24, 2016 (English).
16. ^ It's Official: Mercedes-Benz Signs Naming Rights Agreement For Iconic New Stadium in Atlanta. Retrieved June 27, 2020 (English).  .
17. ↑ Falcons officially announce Mercedes-Benz as naming rights partner. In: ajc.com , August 24, 2015 (English).
18. ↑ New drinks partner for Mercedes-Benz Stadium. In: stadionwelt.de , May 4, 2016.
19. ↑ Roof and video wall cause problems. In: stadionwelt.de , February 25, 2016.
20. ↑ Mercedes-Benz Stadium: No further delays. In: stadionwelt.de , April 27, 2017.
21. ↑ New Falcons home successfully inaugurated. In: stadionwelt.de , August 28, 2017.
22. ^ Match report Atlanta Falcons versus Green Bay Packers. In: nfl.com (English).
23. ↑ New stadium with record attendance. In: stadionwelt.de , September 18, 2017.
24. ↑ Record attendance in Atlanta. In: stadionwelt.de , March 12, 2018.
25. ^ MLS: All-Star-Game in Atlanta. In: stadionwelt.de , October 25, 2017.
26. ↑ https://www.laola1.at/de/red/fussball/international/ligen-mix/news/mls-cup--atlanta-united-gewinnt-endspiel-gegen-portland/?amp#urlNotFound
27. ↑ Roof finally ready for use. In: stadionwelt.de. July 27, 2018, accessed July 27, 2018 .