FLOWERY BRANCH – The Falcons’ $30 million renovation project at their headquarters will be in the final stages of completion this summer.
Unfortunately, because of safety and logistic concerns, fans will not be allowed to attend training camp practices this season.
But you can still check out new coach Raheem Morris and new quarterback Kirk Cousins at a pair of open practices this summer - July 27 at Seckinger High in Gwinnett County and August 2 at Mercedes Benz Stadium.
Falcons president Greg Beadles said that the renovation project, which includes an expansion of the current lockeroom, cafeteria and strength and conditioning rooms, is on schedule but the presence of heavy equipment would present a safety and logistical problem with several thousand fans on site. The team held 12 open practices last summer and 13 in 2022.
“We hate that,” Beadles said. “The fans are No. 1 for us.”
The team hopes to get 10,000 fans at the Seckinger High practice and twice as many at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a number which would be close to the approximate number of 30,000 fans the team said witnessed open practices last summer.
“(Coach) Raheem (Morris) loves the idea,” Beadles said. “The guys love being in that kind of high school environment again. That accessibility for more people allows for a lot of people to see us. It just won’t be as many times because of the construction.”
The Falcons are expanding their cafeteria, locker room and strength and conditioning rooms.
“It will be modernized, cool-looking like a hip restaurant kind of place,” Beadles said of the cafeteria. “The locker room is more than doubling in size. The design is really neat. Cool amenities in there. The lockers are high tech.”
The lockers feature air blowers that dry the helmets and pads.
“The new area on the far side is going to be strength and conditioning,” Beadles said. “It’s going to be like 14,000 square feet. Two levels. That’s more than twice as big as the strength and conditioning room that we had before. So, all of that is ongoing and all on schedule. It’s just going to take us a while to clean everything up.”
The is a “one-year deal” and fans will be invited back next season.
The Falcons visited several college campuses to look at their locker room renovations.
“You go to Clemson and UGA and you’re like like, ‘oh my goodness,’ " Beadles said. “The thing with them, especially now is that they have to recruit so much. That’s a big thing. That’s not as big of factor for us.
“We want to have the best. They have a lot more players than us, especially during the season, but we don’t have the same kind of arms race that they do. But we are getting innovation from there.”
