Mercedes-Benz Stadium officials provided a media tour of the still-under-construction building Thursday, "pointing to signs of progress that they said signal the massive stadium is on track to open for the start of football season," according to Tim Tucker of the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION. AMB Group Senior VP & General Counsel Mike Egan said construction is "in the home stretch." AMB Group announced in April that the stadium's opening would be "pushed back" to a Falcons exhibition game on Aug. 26. The venue originally was scheduled to open in March. Although it was "obvious on Thursday's tour that much work remains to be done in the next 86 days," officials involved with the project "held firm to the late-August date." Project-management firm Darden & Co. VP Jason Hughes pointed to several places where "considerable progress had been made in just the past day, including work on installing the 63,000-square-foot halo-shaped video board that figures to be one of the stadium's defining features." Work also "continues on the roof, which consists of eight movable steel panels, called petals, each weighing 500 tons." The roof was in the open position Thursday, as it "has been since April." Egan "expressed confidence the roof will be fully operable" by Aug. 26. Tucker notes other parts of the stadium have been "largely completed, including the suites, restrooms, concession stands and the administrative offices." Employees are "scheduled to begin moving into the offices next week" (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 6/2). In Atlanta, Amy Wenk notes the venue's opening has "been delayed several times, most recently due to issues with the steel work in the roof." But Egan on Thursday said that he has “100 percent” confidence the stadium’s one-of-a-kind roof would be fully operational by Aug. 26. However, the process of opening and closing the roof "won't be tested until later in July." Egan: "In the next few days, we will see the roof close for the first time" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 6/2).
