“I think of stadiums as secular cathedrals,” he said. For comparison’s sake, the tallest building in Atlanta-the Bank of America tower-sold in 2006 for (just) $436 million.īenjamin Flowers, a Georgia Tech professor who studies the intersection of sports and architecture, likens the modern-day stadium to the grand churches of Europe, when architects sought to convey the insignificance of man against the awesomeness of the divine. Estimates for the new Los Angeles stadium, which will host both the Rams and Chargers, are currently $2.6 billion.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium is currently estimated to cost $1.5 billion in Dallas, AT&T Stadium was $1.2 billion. Outside of infrastructure-a heavy rail line, a sewer system-a new NFL stadium is invariably the most ambitious and expensive project its host city will ever see. Want to ensure your home team doesn’t decamp to another city? Build a new stadium. Want to host a Super Bowl? Build a new stadium. NFL stadiums-new NFL stadiums, that is, with gleaming features and staggering budgets-have become the sine qua non for the cities that claim a franchise. The opening of Mercedes-Benz Stadium will mark a rite of passage not just for the Falcons or Blank, but for Atlanta itself. I’m not over our last game”-when the Falcons blew a 25-point lead in the second half of the Super Bowl to lose to the New England Patriots-“but otherwise I’m good.” “I’ve been around this sport a long, long time and it doesn’t always set up this way. Much of the attention in the press and social media was on the vexing mechanics of the retractable roof, but there was just as much happening beneath it-connecting the 4,000 miles of fiber cable, clearing the field so turf could be installed, testing and retesting the 350-ton halo board, hanging art on the walls, hooking up the 1,264 beer taps. Eight miles to the south, crews were working round-the-clock to ready the stadium for its August 26 opening.
McKay has the wiry body of a long-distance runner, which he is, and when we spoke at the Blank Family offices in Buckhead in late June, eight weeks before the opening of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, he exuded the zen peace of a marathon runner with the finish line in sight. In the interim, McKay went from Falcons general manager to team president and CEO, finding himself once again not in the business of building a football team, but building them a new home. At some point we’ll have to talk about renovating the Dome or replacing the Dome, but that’s years in the future.” “Don’t worry about it,” Blank told McKay.
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