Five things we learned this week about SunTrust Park, the Braves’ new Cobb County stadium that will open in 2017.
1. SunTrust Park architect Earl Santee predicted the stadium will feel "twice as intimate as Turner Field." That is in part the result of having almost 10,000 fewer seats and in part because of the design, said Santee, a principal at Kansas City-based architecture firm Populous. Many seats will be 30 to 50 feet closer to the field than corresponding seats at Turner Field, he said. Click here for full story on the first detailed look inside the stadium.
2. Comcast officials vowed that SunTrust Park will surpass the San Francisco 49ers' Levi's Stadium as the nation's most technologically advanced stadium. According to Comcast director of product management Eric McLoughlin, SunTrust Park will have "2 1/2 times" the broadband bandwidth speed of Levi's Stadium. Under a wide-ranging partnership with the Braves, Comcast is providing Internet connectivity and other technology in the stadium and adjacent mixed-use development. "When that first pitch is thrown, all fans in the stadium will be able to stream video at the same time," said Doug Guthrie, Comcast's senior vice president for this region.
3. An outfield wall of dramatically changing heights — as low as six feet in left field and as high as 16 feet in right field — could lead to some wacky plays, especially in right field. The lower portion of the right-field wall will be padded — as will the full wall in left field and center field — but the upper portion of the right-field wall will be brick, Braves vice chairman John Schuerholz noted. "It'll be interesting when the right fielder goes back for a ball and the ball is above the pad and he can't quite catch it with his glove and it bounces off the brick," Schuerholz said. "They're going to have to get used to making that play, too, so that'll be neat." Click here for full story on the asymmetrical outfield dimensions and wall heights.
4. The Braves will begin selling SunTrust Park season tickets to the general public Tuesday. Prices will range from $92 to $500 per game for premium seats and from $7 to $98 per game for non-premium seats. To this point, sales have been limited for the most part to current Turner Field season-ticket holders. Close to 10,000 season tickets have been sold so far, about halfway to the Braves' goal of 20,000 by opening day in the new ballpark, according to Derek Schiller, the team's president of business. Click here for full story.
5. Some random facts. Fans with access to the Delta Sky360 Club will be able to watch and listen to post-game interviews from the other side of a glass wall. … Concessions will be sold from a silver Airstream trailer parked in the "Xfinity Rooftop" lounge above the right-field corner. … The Braves plan to move into their offices at the new ballpark in early December. Click here for a photo gallery from a tour of the stadium.
