Falcons President & CEO Rich McKay yesterday said that the team's new stadium is about 30-35% "complete and is on schedule to open" in '17, according to a front-page piece by Ricky Leroux of the MARIETTA DAILY JOURNAL. The venue does not have an official name yet, but McKay said that a decision "could come soon." McKay: "The naming rights is a big piece of the project. It's a long-term commitment. It portrays image." He added, "We will make that announcement sooner rather than later. ... It could happen at any time." McKay also "discussed the origins of the stadium's design, saying there were three objectives" team Owner Arthur Blank "laid out when the team began working" on the venue. McKay: "We wanted a building that truly, when you saw it, you weren't able to say, 'Boy that reminds me of...' We told the architects we're not looking for that." McKay said that Blank "wanted the facility to be more than just a football stadium, but a sports and entertainment venue that could host events year round." Finally, McKay said that Blank wanted to "pursue a public-private partnership, similar to the arrangement reached between" the Braves and Cobb County on the funding for SunTrust Park (MARIETTA DAILY JOURNAL, 8/11).
NUANCES OF THE NEST: McKay said that the new stadium "will have a roof that can be opened or closed in just seven minutes, and the optimal setting will be on 'open.'" In Marietta, Kirby, Brumby III & Garrett note the Falcons are "doing something that owners of other retractable-roof stadiums like those in Dallas failed to do: that is, it is weatherizing the stadium interior and installing drainage under the field." McKay said unlike the Falcons' new stadium, other teams "have to close the roof" if the chance of rain is 5% or more. But Kirby, Brumby III & Garrett note the most "jaw-dropping feature of the as-yet-unnamed stadium is likely to be its scoreboard, which will be about as far from retro-style hand-operated boards as you can get." The upper lip of the stadium "will be ringed with what designers are calling a 'halo board' -- a six-story tall LED screen that is flat along the sidelines and curves around the end zones." The stadium also will have 65% more "points of sale at concession stands" than the Georgia Dome. McKay: "You have to build for half time. People don't go to concessions in middle of first quarter or the middle of the fourth quarter. And if you don't design them with that in mind, you end up with long lines and unsatisfied customers" (MARIETTA DAILY JOURNAL, 8/11).
