It was an interesting week on the business side of Atlanta sports:
1. Falcons cut some PSL prices: The Falcons will reduce the prices on several thousand personal seat licenses in the upper level of Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Seat licenses in the four upper corners of the new stadium, which previously were priced at $1,500 and $1,250, will be re-priced between $500 and $750. Full story here.
2. Braves push back spring move: The Braves won't have a new spring-training home as soon as they had hoped. After aiming to have a new facility built and open in Florida by spring 2018, the Braves have conceded that won't happen and have pushed back their timetable for leaving Disney's Wide World of Sports. "We're now focusing on 2019," Braves vice chairman John Schuerholz said. Full story here.
3. SunTrust Park is "topped out": The final steel beam was lifted by crane to the top of SunTrust Park as Braves executives, dignitaries and media members watched Monday. The 33-foot-long, 1,422-pound beam was bolted into position 155 feet above field level, completing a "topping-out" ceremony that Braves chairman and CEO Terry McGuirk called a "major milestone" in the building of the ballpark. Full story here.
4. Mercedes-Benz Stadium cost rises again: The Falcons have ordered about $200 million worth of changes to their new stadium, half of it last month. The latest project status report by the Georgia World Congress Center Authority disclosed that the Falcons organization "has issued change orders" to general contractor Holder Hunt Russell Moody "in the cumulative amount of $199.5 (million) for various scope changes." With the latest changes, the "total project cost is projected to be $1.5 (billion)," the report states. Full story here.
5. Falcons add boxes to new stadium: In a late change to Mercedes-Benz Stadium's seating configuration, the Falcons will add loge boxes — groups of four to eight seats — at the back of the lower bowl inside the 10-yard lines on both sides and ends of the field. There will be 28 loge boxes in all. See details near end of this story.
6. NBA Finals rates high on Atlanta TV: The Cleveland-Golden State series has continued to draw big Atlanta television audiences, with Games 5 and 6 delivering Nielsen ratings of 19.1 and 18.4, respectively, here. The Atlanta market has been among the national leaders in ratings throughout the series. See details here.
