Mercedes-Benz Stadium: Food, Drinks A Hit With Fans; Roof To Be ‘Fully Operational’

January 25th, 2018

The Atlanta Falcons expect the retractable roof on Mercedes-Benz Stadium to be “fully operational” for the 2018 season and next year’s Super Bowl.

David Goldman / Associated Press

The site of next year’s Super Bowl already is celebrating a championship for best concessions.

Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the Atlanta Falcons and MLS Atlanta United, finished first in a 2017 NFL fan survey for quality and value of food and beverages. The results released Thursday show the lowered prices, including $2 hot dogs, $3 pizza slices and $5 beer, were a big hit with fans. Those prices will remain in place for Atlanta’s Super Bowl in 2019.

The Falcons ranked 18th in surveys the last two years at the Georgia Dome before the 2017 debut season in the new $1.5 billion stadium. The lower prices led to more sales. Average spending per fan increased by 16 percent in 2017, according to the survey.

Falcons president and CEO Rich McKay said the survey reflects input from fans in planning for concessions.

“It means that we got it right by listening to them,” McKay said. “I think what makes us feel good is we really tried to pay attention to the feedback that our fans gave us on food and beverage, where we needed to make changes.”

The new stadium also placed first in the MLS food and beverage survey of 12 of 22 teams.

Roof Update

The Falcons expect the retractable roof on Mercedes-Benz Stadium to be “fully operational” for the 2018 season and next year’s Super Bowl.

McKay told The Associated Press on Wednesday he expects the team to have more open-air home games in the 2018 season.

“The roof is being worked on as we speak and yes we expect the roof to be fully operational by football season, if not well before,” McKay said.

“Fully operational means you will see us go to much more of an open configuration as we designed at the beginning. When it’s ready to go, we’ll be open depending on weather.”

Problems kept the roof closed on the $1.5 billion stadium for most of the 2017 season.

The unique roof, designed to open like a camera lens, was open only for the Falcons’ first home regular-season game against Green Bay on Sept. 17. It was closed for all other NFL and college games, including the Peach Bowl, the Southeastern Conference championship game and the national championship game.