Mercedes-Benz Stadium: Atlanta's World Cup Showpiece

We're one of the busiest venues in the world.

Well, one thing you notice as well, every seat's got a fantastic view of the field.

Nice wide, comfortable seats, 21 inches, that was mandated by Mr.

Blank.

Fan-friendly pricing throughout the stadium.

You will find a fan-friendly stand on every floor in every quad of this building.

We will not change our prices for, for any event.

Um, these, these have held tried and true since we've opened, and, and, and I would suspect they will stay that way.

The immediate view of, of the inner bowl, it's pretty breathtaking.

It's fantastic .

The ceilings just rise on 22 million square feet and, and sometimes we feel like we don't have enough space.

I don't know how that's possible, um, but we continue to grow and expand and add premium products to the stadium.

That's why I do what I do.

I love event day.

The first match here is gonna be pretty special.

With its one-of a-kind retractable roof, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta is one of the most recognizable stadiums in the country.

It's one of 11 venues in the US that has been chosen to host matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

And in preparation for the tournament, the artificial turf that the NFL's Falcons and MLS's Atlanta United usually play on has been replaced by the FIFA mandated natural grass pitch.

That's one of many changes the stadium has undergone as it prepares to welcome some of the biggest stars in global soccer for 8 World Cup matches, including one of the 2 semi-finals.

It's a complicated and lengthy process, and the man overseeing it all is Adam Fullerton.

We're here at Mercedes-Benz Stadium with Adam Fullerton, VP of stadium operations here at the stadium.

Adam, thanks for having us.

Yeah, thanks for coming down.

We're.

here to show you the stadium.

Yeah, and so we're, we're standing here right outside the Atlanta United locker room.

And I wanted to start here because as the players enter the field, this is the way that they go.

That's right.

It's kind of unique to our stadium.

It's been a tradition for the, the United to do that.

Uh, we, we throw some barricade out here , but the fans are right here.

Um, the, the players do a really good job of interacting with the fans.

High fives, little kids smiling.

Uh, it's a really cool way to enter the, the, the field of play, uh, and it's a great fan experience.

So let's, let's see what they see.

Yeah, let's go.

Let's take a look at the field.

So we're entering the, the patio here and come out to our, our pitch and then just, you know, the immediate view of, of, of, of the inner bowl.

It, it's, it's pretty breathtaking.

It's fantastic, yeah, you, you see, you know, the, the, the scope of it because, you know, it's a, it's an NFL stadium.

It's enormous.

The ceilings just rise on forever.

22 million square feet and, and sometimes we feel like we don't have enough space.

I don't know how that's possible.

Uh, but we continue to grow and expand and add premium products to the stadium.

We're adding a new locker room to the , the stadium here with the announcement of our, uh, NWSL team, uh, coming in 2028.

So, uh, despite its, its magnitude, we, we always seem to be looking for more space.

So you've installed natural grass.

We have, but they, uh, among other things, the World Cup.

That's right.

Um, we've done a few grass, uh, events in the past.

Um, our, our TGL kind of summer series that comes in, um, the Mexo Tour comes in and, and sometimes we'll put grass in.

But those are kind of permanent, uh, semi-permanent installations.

This year is an actual permanent grass installation, um, that we, we prepared for specifically for the World Cup.

Um.

This weekend we'll actually take this grass out and put a brand new service in to get ready for the exclusive period with FIFA.

So that's so fascinating to me how you've installed this whole grass field basically as like a trial run for the World Cup.

Yes, there were some logistical reasons why we did it.

Um, we, we have Atlanta United still in season, right?

So we need to play home, home matches.

So as soon as football season ended, we took the month of February and did the complete renovation.

Um, 2 years ago, we actually laid the groundwork for this project.

A lot of the, uh, kind of, uh, belowground infrastructure was set in place but not necessarily connected.

We needed that time this year, about a 30-day window to get the grass and connect all those systems, your irrigation system, a new pump for that, uh, our underground ventilation system.

Um, again, all the piping was done, but none, none of it had been connected yet.

So it allowed us to complete the project and then to your point, um, kind of trial and error.

Uh, this is a, a difficult Thing to do, grow grass indoors without sun.

Um, so we've learned quite a bit in the last, uh, month and a half that this has been down.

And you see, you mentioned without sun.

So we see these big, you know, throw lights here that are, they're helping to grow.

That's right.

Yeah, we're like, we're, we're, we're mimic, mimicking the sun, right.

Anytime these lights are not on, the grass is sleeping.

Let the, the lights stay on overnight, come back in the next day, and then begin our maintenance program.

What, what, what's the differentiation between this, this pitch and the FIFA?

Uh, age, uh, this has been out of the Out of its home, uh, for, for over a month now .

Uh, we're currently growing, uh, uh, the, the, the next pitch is still in the ground outdoors in, in, in perfect conditions.

Um, so it's really just a, a time thing, um, slight variations on, on how it will get installed, but ultimately will result in the same pitch as that you're looking at today.

I see.

So it's just, you know, the grass doesn't have that longevity inside.

You get the girl lights so you bring something fresh, so it's at it, at its peak for the World Cup.

As we walk along, we also see.

In the corner here where the seats are refractory.

So that's to accommodate the wider soccer.

That's right.

So we, we were designed and built to be a multi-purpose stadium from day one.

so we, we knew that soccer was going to be a tenant in this building.

And in order to get the dimensions as you referenced for soccer fields, we had to, had to have these retractable corners.

So for football, they're deployed out to add more seating capacity, be closer to the field.

For soccer, they're retracted back and stowed away so that we can get our corners and dimensions that we need for MLS, right?

And you don't sacrifice all that many seats.

No, no, it's a, it's a couple 1000 but what we've done is then add seating down on the concrete padding.

Down here.

So there's kind of drink rail seating to, um, be that on-field experience.

Uh, and then we found other ways to like this product behind you.

It's a, it's an amazing seat.

Um, concerts, really, really cool vantage point down here.

Uh, football is a little challenging because you have your giant linemen that are on the sideline, but, um, you may have a coach and a quarterback standing right in front of you having a conversation.

So you're, you're really on the sideline, um, and, and, but you're probably.

Looking at the halo to see.

I was about to say this is from down here.

We get a great view of those, you know, signature features of the stadium, the halo board and that protractable roof.

Yeah, at the time, one of a kind, uh, largest display, um, built in NFL, about 1000 ft in circumference, 58 ft high, we call it 60 ft high.

Um, some related to stories like 5 stories high, um, but 1st 360 of its kind, since then, so far.

One upped a little bit with the, the, uh, a viewing experience on the backside of the Halo, which is really innovative, uh, but at the time, uh, a one of a kind.

And then if you look over to the, the, um, overlook area, about a 100-foot mega column display of LED, uh, and, and again, done very intentionally, um, one of the most open kind of air bowl feels, but you didn't want to lose that scoreboard kind of feel, so added LED around the bowl, uh, to keep you engaged in, in other content.

So many football stadiums, in my opinion, are really pretty similar, you know, there's only so much you can do with a, a square, a rectangulars, right?

When you come in, this is like so recognizable.

It's like, I feel like it's one of the few stadiums in the US that people recognize instantly like, oh, that's Mercedes-Benz.

Yeah, just the, the, the architecture and the, the shape of the building, the Oculus halo, and then the roof, the, the roof, one of a kind, you know, there's other operative fields in, in, in the NFL, but, but the first, uh, of its kind with a, uh, 8.

Pedal system roof that opens up, kind of mimicking that camera lens.

Um, some other venues have done operable walls that open up, uh, but nobody quite, uh, achieved this, this roof.

And the engineering of the roof is really fascinating.

I'll be about how, how it would.

Yeah, it, it's super complicated, uh, from an engineering standpoint, but from an actual functionality, it's pretty basic.

It, it almost, uh, is a 3 rail.

Uh, each pedal has 3 rails, and it almost operates like a train locomotive.

It's a straight rail.

It drives out of the building, it parks on the outer edges of the roof, and then it drives back in.

The petals are slightly different, um, sizes, and then they operate at different speeds, which gives you that kind of camera lens Oculus, uh, feel and appearance.

But once you get up there, you, you, you see the pedal just kind of drive out on a straight, straight rail and then drive back in.

Very cool.

So this is like the, the, the way to come in if you're gonna, yes, yes, this is one of our primary gates, and, and you come in and you get just.

This magnificent view, uh, of the, the Inter Bowl.

When the, the stadium was being designed and first opened, they called it, uh, Times Square.

It was kind of a nickname for this area.

We don't really reference it that way anymore.

It's, it's called the Overlook Forest, uh, but, uh, just an amazing way to enter the stadium and, and really take in the, the magnitude of it.

Yeah, you, you come in this way, you see, again, there's that, that signature center feature and, uh, yeah, all the, you know, the stands.

And one thing we noticed as well.

Every seat's got a fantastic view of the view.

They're, they're , it's so wide open and, and really, really, really good sightlines here.

Um, nice wide, comfortable seats, 21 inches that was mandated by Mr.

Blank.

Um, you could squeeze tighter, but wanted to, you know, have that good fan experience.

Uh, so that was a mandate from day one, that the seats would be, uh, wide and comfortable.

And you get up here and you notice, uh, we're seeing something, I mean, we're a lot of activity around here changing in the World Cup.

One thing that you got to change is a lot of the, the sponsorship signage, what he says about, about the details there.

So, um, if you look in the bowl right now, what brands do you see?

You see Atlanta United, you see Mercedes-Benz.

That's all you will see.

So very intentionally, you want to feel like you're in a soccer stadium and then we're in football mode.

You, you want to know you're in, in a Falcons stadium, um.

We, when we cut the deal with Mercedes, they're the only brand that can be bowl facing.

And, and I love that now because that results in a whole lot less cover up in, in bowl, uh, where some other venues have a lot of internal sponsorship.

Other than our LED ribbons, um, we've got 4 Mercedes, uh, Benz logos to cover up inside the bowl.

The remainder of the stadium is a little bit of a different story.

Um, so there's probably close to 1500 brands that are not brands, but logos that have to be covered of, of other brands that conflict with, with FIFA partners.

Um, so that's called clean site principle.

We signed contractually, um, years ago that we would hand over a commercially sterile building for the tournament.

How do you decide when to open and when to keep it.

It's interesting.

We have a policy that we'd never follow.

Uh, um, we, you know, the Falcons are.

Pretty, um, prescriptive of what they want.

They'll tell us to open or close, but, but really, we want to look at fan comfort.

That, that's the number one priority for everything we do here is the fan experience.

Um, so I start the process with a, essentially a weather update and my general recommendation , um, we want to keep things in like the 70s.

Uh, any, any, anything above the, the, the, the, the high 70s is really gonna start getting warm here in Atlanta, Georgia.

Uh, humidity is a factor we look at and obviously rain.

Um, wind is a, is a factor.

In our soccer configuration , we've got these large drapes that, that are, are shown with our team branding on.

We found that anything over like 12 to 15 mile mile per hour winds, those kind of become wind sails, um, so we won't open the roof if we have high winds.

So there, there is real metrics and, and, and a real process, uh, depending on the leadership in place at that time.

We've introduced superstition as, as a checkmark.

How many have we won versus lost into it.

Um, so I , I joke that I, I'm just a Weather guy and I provide the, the, the, the, the weather recommendation, but, um, we, we meet with each client or each tenant, um, midweek and start that conversation and see what they, what they would like by the end of the week.

And there, there's some goodness to that.

We want to control the environment as best as we can to just omit any other variables.

Um, but I would like to open it for the semifinal.

That'd be really cool, but weather is going to be a challenge with this heat and rain during the summer in Georgia.

Um, it makes it a little bit difficult to get it open.

But having that really allows.

To have so many more events in the year than he would otherwise.

Yeah, I, I say we're a big arena.

Uh, you know, we're truly a multi-purpose venue.

Um, you know, we've talked United, we've talked Falcons, the NWSL team is coming, um, but the amount of concerts that we can do, 6 to 8 concerts here, college football, 6 to 8 of those a year.

Um, you know, we're one of the busiest venues in the, in, in the world, um, certainly the country, and it's because we have that roof.

Yeah, it will, and I'm sure a big reason why this place has chosen to host the.

That's right.

The semis and the quarterfinals.

That's right.

Um, and, and we've had some learnings with, with, uh, the tournament last summer with a lot of heat and weather-related issues.

So that I think FIFA has, has, um, taken some of the hotter hours and, and played, um, indoors and then some of the evening, uh, uh, hours where you think it'd be cooler are going to be, uh, outdoors.

So I think we've honestly shaped some of the scheduling of the tournament as well.

So we see here another, you know, key, uh, aspect of the stadium here, the fan-friendly concession price.

Yes, this, this is.

One of the most wonderful things that we do here as, as a venue.

Um, this started with Mr.

Blank from, from top-down, uh, fan-friendly pricing throughout the stadium.

You will find a fan-friendly stand on every floor, in every quad of this building, um, and, and, and we will not change our prices for, for any event.

Um, these, these have held tried and true since we've opened and, and, and I would suspect they will stay that way.

Um.

Uh, a leader of ours approached the boss and, and, uh, had a conversation about just, you know, food inflation, and it was a non, non, nonstarter.

It was a very short conversation.

Prices will not change.

Yeah, I like I said, even for the World Cup, prices will not change.

Yeah, we've had to convince some of the tenants, um, uh, or clients that come in that, that this is what we do.

It's part of our, our core values.

This is part of the fabric of our, our, our business.

Um, it's caused a little bit of anxiety, but I think over the years people have become more comfortable with it.

Um, but there were some discussions with FIFA and ultimately they're supportive.

So, um, we, we will not change.

And another aspect of that is , as we see here, all these sewing machines, right?

Yes, they're paying what are the $20 to $3 for this.

Yep, you get a cup and now you get endless refills.

Uh, and again, there's There's kind of compounding impacts on that.

Now, now, your guest's experience is better because you're not standing in line just to get a refill.

That's a quick process.

If you're still looking for another food or beverage item, you can, so it frees up lines, uh, and so there's other benefits to it too.

But, uh, endless refills is a, is a very nice feature.

Um, elements of the fan-friendly pricing, right?

So you pay for a Coca-Cola once and then it's free refills, um, which is, is just a wonderful thing.

I don't, I don't think anyone quite knew the volume of which we would go through some of these items.

Looking out again here over this empty stadium, you know, it's amazing to see it quiet, a lot of activity prepping for the World Cup.

I just can't wait to see what it's gonna look like, you know, come, come match day for that, that.

Yeah, the first match is gonna be incredible.

I, I do take moments, uh, each day and come out here in this quiet bowl.

It's kind of my zen.

Uh, it's really fun when the, the irrigation system's going or the lawnmowers are going.

Uh, you kind of get that little hum, but event day is, there's, there's no other way to replicate it.

That's why I do what I do.

I love event day, um.

The first, the first match here is gonna be pretty special, and thanks for taking us through, you know, everything needs to happen to make that to me.

Yeah, I'm happy to do it.

Thanks for coming down and please let, let us know if you ever want to come back.

Thank you.