Good morning. This is LEADOFF, today’s early look inside Atlanta sports.
Suddenly, the glitzy new Mercedes-Benz Stadium looks downright dirty.
The dirt – some 4,000 tons of it – was hauled into the stadium in 250 truckloads Wednesday and dumped onto plywood that now protects the artificial-turf field.
Workers are in the process of creating the surface for a Monster Jam trucks event that will be held in the $1.5 billion-plus stadium Saturday and Sunday.
Monster Jam made at least one appearance annually in the Georgia Dome from 1993 through early last year. In fact, it was the last public event held in the Dome before the building closed last March. It’s one of many events that relocated next door to the new stadium.
A Monster Jam spokeswoman said the thousands of tons of Georgia red clay are stored nearby and reused each year. She said 48 hours were allotted this week to place the plywood over the football/soccer field and another 26 hours to bring in the dirt and build the track.
After the monster trucks shows are done this weekend, the dirt will remain on the floor for a while longer. It will be used for a Monster Energy Supercross motorcycle racing event in the stadium March 3.
And after that, they’ll get to work removing the dirt and cleaning up the place before Atlanta United’s first home match of its second season March 11.
> For more information on this weekend’s Monster Jam, click here.
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