The Braves are "selling ticket packages, setting up new offices and spending some of their anticipated revenue increase on veteran pitchers" as the team prepares for its first season at SunTrust Park, according to Tim Tucker of the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION. While much work "remains to be done" on the $672M ballpark, the Braves and parent company Liberty Media "proclaim it on schedule and on budget." About three-quarters of the 41,000 seats "have been installed." The club plans for "about 300 staffers to move into the offices in mid-December, beating the Dec. 31 expiration of the team’s Turner Field lease." The Braves "won’t say how many season tickets they have sold to date." But Braves President of Business Derek Schiller said they are “on pace” to meet a goal of 20,000 by Opening Day. Braves Chair & CEO Terry McGuirk said 76% of the premium seats “already are sold." SunTrust Park "will have 3,800 premium seats ... compared with 400 such seats at Turner Field." The Braves plan to announce details soon about two areas of the ballpark, including the "'Monument Garden' on one of the main concourses, where statues and other treasures from franchise history are expected to be displayed." There also is a "yet-to-be-named kids’ zone, which is expected to include a zip line." Meanwhile, the Braves opened the '16 season with a payroll of about $85M, MLB’s "fourth lowest." The '17 payroll "clearly will be higher," as the contracts of recently signed Ps R.A. Dickey and Bartolo Colon mean the Braves have $86M "committed to nine players." And with "more activity expected on the free-agent and/or trade markets, the payroll seems likely to at least approach" the $112M level of Opening Day '14 -- the season before the Braves began "purging salaries and rebuilding their minor-league system" (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 11/19).
