When the Atlanta Falcons' new $1.5 billion home opens with an exhibition game Saturday night, the most expensive and most discussed feature of Mercedes-Benz Stadium will remain closed.

The retractable roof isn’t ready to retract, forcing games to be played with it in the closed position until mechanization is completed. Falcons and stadium officials don’t know exactly when they’ll be able to open the roof for a game, but they say it’ll be sometime this fall.

"I don't get upset, to be honest with you, over two or three months delay," Falcons owner Arthur Blank said. "The roof works. It just doesn't open and close in 12 minutes yet, but it does open and close.

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South Carolina State University head football coach Chennis Berry joined the team in 2023 after coaching at Benedict College, a historically Black college in Columbia, South Carolina. Last year, Berry's team saw its season end in heartbreak in the Celebration Bowl and this time, it ended in triumph with a 40-38 win. (Courtesy of South Carolina State Athletics)

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A migrant farmworker harvests Vidalia onions at a farm in Collins, in 2011. A coalition of farmworkers, including one based in Georgia, filed suit last month in federal court arguing that cuts to H-2A wages will trigger a cut in the pay and standard of living of U.S. agricultural workers. (Bita Honarvar/AJC)

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