SunTrust Park, at a cost of $672 million on its own, is much smaller than Turner Field, which originally was an 85,000-seat Olympic stadium and was then converted into one of MLB’s larger parks, with close to 50,000 seats. In general, SunTrust Park’s 41,500 seats are 30 to 50 feet closer to the field, making it twice as intimate as the Braves’ current home, Populous founder and senior principal Earl Santee said.
“It’s a baseball building,” he said. “The geometry is wrapped around so all the sight lines are great, from home plate to the foul poles and to the outfield.”
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SunTrust Park will have more club seats than Turner Field but fewer suites.
Photo by: DON MURET / STAFF
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The new park has premium products encompassing 4,000 total seats. Many are club seats, a big increase compared with 340 club seats at Turner Field (
see related story).
Suites are a different story. SunTrust Park has 32 suites, which when it opens will be the second-lowest number in MLB behind Kauffman Stadium’s 25. Turner Field has 67 suites.
“We reduced suite capacity but increased [club-seat] capacity, which is where we believe the market is really going for baseball,” said Mike Plant, the Braves’ president of development. “That leaves 37,000 seats that we can still sell [outside of premium]. You can buy a $6 seat, and we’ve got $10 and $20 seats.
“Fifty-five percent of our fan base are families with kids … and you can’t price them out of the market. We’re able to drive ticket prices and value and amenity-driven seats and still leave that many affordable seats. It’s something we spent a lot of time looking at.”
Populous spent a lot of time looking at the Chop House, Turner Field’s center-field restaurant and a fan favorite. At SunTrust Park, the new Coors Light Chop House in right field spans 10,000 square feet, which is four to five times bigger than the original version. There is a party suite at field level. A combination of 313 fixed seats in front of the restaurant and indoor bar stools with a view to the field are sold out, Braves officials said.
At its highest point, called the “Top of the Chop,” the chophouse has bridges connecting to the Tomahawk Taproom, a two-story microbrewery built into the ballpark’s facade, and a separate building containing 40,000 square feet of restaurants and bars that’s part of The Battery Atlanta.
The Xfinity Lounge and Rooftop, a high-tech social destination catering to young adults, is situated in the right field corner of the upper deck, next to the Coors Light Chop House. The lounge and rooftop are part of Comcast’s deal as a Braves sponsor and a partner in the mixed-use development.
It’s the Braves’ version of The Rooftop at Coors Field, a popular hangout at the Colorado Rockies’ stadium. At SunTrust Park, the indoor/outdoor space will have social media feeds; pingpong, cornhole and foosball games; virtual reality; and cabanas facing The Battery Atlanta.
As part of its deal with the Braves, Comcast will supply wireless infrastructure for both the ballpark and The Battery, said Doug Guthrie, a senior vice president with Comcast Cable.
SunTrust Park’s technology will support 100 gigabytes a second of bandwidth speed, which is 2 1/2 times greater than the 40 gigabytes at Levi’s Stadium, another Comcast partner, said Eric McLoughlin, the company’s director of marketing and product management.
“We’re going to have the network to support the total fan experience,” McLoughlin said. “As soon as you pull into the garages here, you will be instantly connected. You can walk the Battery and make your way into the park and still be connected.”
