Chick-fil-A Kickoff officials aren’t worried about whether the retractable roof on Mercedes-Benz Stadium will open when the college-football event is played there for the first time.
That’s because they’ve already decided to play the Alabama-Florida State and Georgia Tech-Tennessee games on Labor Day weekend with the roof closed to eliminate the variable of weather.
“Most definitely,” said Gary Stokan, president and CEO of Peach Bowl Inc., which runs the Chick-fil-A Kickoff.
The decision is an example that marquee sports events in retractable-roof stadiums often choose to play with the roof closed.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium’s opening date has been delayed three times because of issues related to construction of the retractable roof, leading to speculation — denied by the Falcons organization last week — that the stadium might debut with the roof in a closed position and won’t be operable until work is completed on it later.
But Stokan said his decision to hold the college football kickoff event with the roof closed was unrelated to construction. He said the Falcons haven’t told him whether he would have the option of an open roof in September.
“Maybe I should have asked that,” Stokan said. “But I had concluded we were going to keep it closed anyway, so I never even asked if we would be able to open it.”
Stokan said he preferred for the Alabama-FSU game Sept. 2 and the Tech-Tennessee game Sept. 4 to be played with the roof closed to ensure controlled conditions.
“I know when it’s closed, everything is going to go well,” Stokan said. “The air conditioning will be fine. … I think whenever you put on an event the less things you need to be concerned about, the better. And I know with the roof closed it’ll be a great atmosphere and experience.
“If I keep it closed, the weather doesn’t matter. I know I’ve got 72 degrees. I think you want to control the elements as much as you can, obviously, not only for the fans but for the coaches and the players.”
The 2018 Chick-fil-A Kickoff game between Auburn and Washington also will be played with the roof closed, Stokan said. That is Washington’s expressed preference, he said.
Although Falcons and Atlanta United officials have said they intend to have the roof open for as many of their teams’ games as possible, many other marquee sports events in the building probably will tend to be played with the roof closed.
SEC and College Football Playoff officials previously have indicated they intend to play their championship games in Mercedes-Benz Stadium with the roof closed. Mercedes-Benz Stadium's first SEC title game is slated for Dec. 2, while the CFP national championship game is scheduled there Jan. 8.
CFP executive director Bill Hancock pointed out that the 3-year-old playoff’s championship game has been played in two retractable-roof stadiums, in Arlington, Texas, and Glendale, Ariz., both times with the roof closed.
Steve Cannon, CEO of Falcons parent company AMB Group, announced last week that Mercedes-Benz Stadium's opening date has been pushed back to Aug. 26. Asked if the roof will be operable then, Cannon said: "Yes. Our expectation is for when we get our certificate of occupancy that we have an operable roof, 100 percent."
Cannon also said demolition of the Georgia Dome has been put on hold “until we are 100 percent certain of achieving our certificate of occupancy” required for holding events in the new stadium.
He said a construction “milestone” in June will inform a decision on when “decommissioning” the Dome — preparing it for demolition — should resume. The Dome could be used again for events if there are further delays.
Stokan said his conversations with the Falcons have left him “fully confident, unequivocally, that we will be playing our two Chick-fil-A Kickoff games in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.” Still, Stokan said the decision to hold off on demolition of the Dome “makes sense” as an insurance policy.
