A few weeks ago, I paid a visit to Mercedes-Benz Stadium for
the first time to watch my favorite NFL team, the Baltimore Ravens, take on the
Atlanta Falcons. I had a truly wonderful
time and I cannot recommend highly enough that other people visit as well.
First, it was so easy to get to the stadium. I rode on the MARTA subway to get
downtown. The exit from the train
station is right between Mercedes-Benz Stadium and State Farm Arena across the
street. It was the first of many contrasts
between going to a Falcons game and a Braves game. To get to SunTrust Park there isn’t a very
good mass transit option that I have found, so driving is the only option. And
since it’s Atlanta there will be
traffic, so pack your patience. Even
worse than that, parking at Braves games is $20 compared to the free parking at
MARTA stations and the $5 round-trip fare.
Once I was inside, I needed to consciously remember to close
my mouth because one thing after another amazed me. The concourses were wide and clean. And all fans can access all concourses. My ticket was in the 300 level and I could visit
the 100 and 200 levels if I wanted. I
took a full lap around the 100 level concourse.
What stood out to me was how the concourse broke out into little bar
areas where anyone could walk up to the bar from the concourse and still see
the action on the field.
Also, on the 100 level, on the sort of open end of the
stadium, the concourse widened out to a larger standing area. It featured a stage for the stadium DJ (yes,
there was a stadium DJ who played hip-hop music during breaks in the game) and
in-game host, and a pull handle for a very loud train horn. This was treated similarly to the #12 flag in
Seattle in that someone at least relatively famous (I don’t remember who it was
for this game) was invited to ceremoniously sound the horn shortly before
kickoff. The horn also blared for a Falcons
touchdown which I guess is similar to the horn that sounds after someone scores
a goal in a hockey game (I have never been to a hockey game). While I was standing in this area, they
opened the roof, which is supposed to look like a camera shutter (pictured
below). Again, truly amazing to behold
as all 8 panels move in unison to open the roof. This retractable roof looks so complicated, and I still
feel like the words “complicated” and “retractable roof” should not go together. Seems like it would be easy for the roof to
get stuck partially open.
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| The roof when it was closed |
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| The roof as it opened |
I then made my way up the escalators to the 300 level where
my seat was. There is a portion of the
concourse called the 100 Yard Club. It’s
an interesting area for the concourse with bars along the sides and football
field markings of the floor. These
markings are supposed to line up with the yard markings on the actual playing
surface.
The stadium food is worth mentioning as well. Most stadiums charge ridiculously high prices
for food and drinks just because they can.
At Mercedes-Benz Stadium, however, the food prices are pretty
reasonable. I’m not the type of guy to
go to a football game just to sit there and crush beers until I fall over – I’m
there to watch the game. I didn’t get a
beer but a domestic draft beer is $5. My
basket of chicken tenders and fries and a bottle of water only cost $8 rather
than maybe $14 or $15 at a different venue.
I went to go sit in my seat and had a great view. The halo video board cannot go without
mentioning. It was huge. You can’t not notice it. I sat mesmerized by the giant TV in the
ceiling. To be honest, the screen is so
big that it’s almost distracting from the action on the field. The only complaint I had about the screen was
that the down and distance, spot of the ball, and the out of town scores were
not up there. I was expecting a sort of
newspaper page type of display where everything I wanted to see was visible all
in one place and I could choose the information I needed at the time. The out of town scores were on ribbon boards
in the corners, and the down and distance and spot of the ball were on ribbon
boards along each side of the field.
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| The view from my seat |
The game itself was a great game (for me anyway). The Ravens dominated both lines of scrimmage
and the time of possession (39:39 to 20:21) on their way to a 26-16 win. Ever since Lamar Jackson took over for Joe
Flacco at quarterback, the Ravens have played much more of a ball-control-and-strong-defense
brand of football. It’s not the
prettiest style of play to watch, but there is no denying its
effectiveness. Running the ball and
controlling the clock allows your defense to rest and prevents the other
offense from getting on the field. The Falcons
only ran a total of five offensive plays in the third quarter. Matt Ryan was getting talked about as having
an MVP type season. Not after this game.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium is a great place to watch a game and I
look forward to my next visit.