One sign down, 150 or so to go.
The SunTrust Park signs began to come down Wednesday, starting with the blue-and-orange signage above the right-field gate, as the Braves prepare to put a new name on their home stadium.
A name change was necessitated for the three-year-old ballpark by SunTrust’s merger with BB&T and the renaming of the combined bank as Truist.
Braves CEO Derek Schiller told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last month that the stadium would get a new name soon after the first of the year.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
“There is going to be a date where we are no longer called SunTrust Park and we’re called Truist something,” Schiller said at the time. “… I would expect we’re going to move fast on announcing those types of things once we get into the new year.”
Indeed, an announcement of the ballpark's new name is planned by Braves and Truist executives next Tuesday.
Schiller couldn’t be reached for further comment this week. But based on his earlier statements, it was no surprise when workers began removing signage. The SunTrust Park sign that had been high above the right-field gate was hauled away in pieces after being removed Wednesday.
Credit: Bob Andres
Credit: Bob Andres
There is much more sign-removal work to be done to accommodate a new name for the ballpark.
The Braves have “roughly 150 signs (containing the SunTrust Park name) that have to be changed out … some of which are very difficult change-outs, including the top of the main video board, the top of the ballpark itself, the two marquees that are on the highways, the signs on every pedestrian bridge that’s here,” Schiller said last month.
“There is a whole bunch of signage that is associated with The Battery Atlanta and all throughout there. There is signage above each of the five entrance ways. There is directional signage. You start to build the list; it’s a significant list. It would be impossible and impractical to basically do that in an overnight change-out type of way. It’s going to have to take some time.”
In September 2014, the Braves and SunTrust announced a 25-year naming-rights contract, which began with the stadium's 2017 opening. Truist assumes that deal, which has 22 years remaining.
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