📍 Atlanta, Georgia
🏈 Home of the Atlanta Falcons

A true modern marvel, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta set the new standard for future multi-purpose sports venues. Clad in stainless steel and featuring a state-of-the-art retractable roof, the stadium is one of the most technologically advanced in North America, making it an icon of both the National Football League and college football. Since it debuted on the skyline in 2017, MBS has been the home of MLS’s Atlanta United FC and the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, the latter of which is the main draw and serves as the venue’s primary tenant.

Before fans even walk through the doors of the stadium, they’re greeted by a monstrous metal falcon created by artist Gábor Miklós Szőke. An obviously popular photo op for Falcons fans, the statue is said to be the largest freestanding bird sculpture in the world, standing 41 feet high and boasting a wingspan of approximately 70 feet.

Costing a staggering $1.6 billion to design and construct, Mercedes-Benz Stadium is known for having many distinctive cutting edge features. Chief amongst them is the retractable pinwheel roof, which can open and close in just 8 minutes and is designed to resemble a bird’s wings when all of the panels are fully retracted. This flexibility allows the Falcons, who played for 25 years at the entirely indoor Georgia Dome, to now be able to host games in all sorts of environments. Below the roof is a massive 360-degree circular Halo board, the largest of its kind in the world. The enormous videoboard is visible to everyone in the building, eliminating the need for multiple screens in each end zone. Because of this, there’s a break in the east side of the seating bowl to allow for unobstructed views of the Atlanta skyline through the stadium’s glass panes.

Another unique feature of MBS is the 100 Yard Club on the upper level, which provides fans with a walk through team history. Informative murals celebrate some of the Falcons’ best players over the years, while historic artifacts – such as old Georgia Dome seats – line the concourse. The club, which is open to all ticket holders, is also chock full of different concession options, all of which features the same “fan first pricing” that’s found all throughout the stadium. Available at all events regardless of their nature, these extremely affordable menu prices – e.g. $2 for a soda and $5 for a beer – are a huge draw and help Mercedes-Benz Stadium stand out amongst its peers.

With a seating capacity of 71,000 for football, Mercedes-Benz Stadium holds approximately the same amount of fans as the venue it replaced – the Georgia Dome – which enables the city to continue hosting marquee events such as the SEC Championship, the College Football National Championship and the Super Bowl, the latter of which came to Atlanta in 2019. The 2020 Men’s Final Four was also slated to be held at MBS, but the Covid-19 pandemic stripped the stadium of that privilege; fans are hopeful that the tourney will return at some point in the coming years.

Despite both their current and former venues being the site of some of the country’s most premier events, the Falcons have been engaged in an almost eternal struggle for glory themselves. The team won two NFC Championships in 1998 and 2016, subsequently competing in Super Bowl XXXIII and Super Bowl LI, though they came up short on both occasions. Today, the Falcons remain the oldest major sports franchise in North America that has yet to win a championship. Still, the Falcons have been a competitive team in the NFC South and have been fairly dominant inside MBS, with the stadium’s iconic train horn blaring often after every touchdown and win.

For Falcons fans, Mercedes-Benz Stadium is more than just a place to watch their Dirty Birds play. It’s a testament to the team’s commitment to chasing the ultimate prize and providing an unparalleled gameday experience along the way. No matter if you’re a Falcons ride-or-die or a supporter of one of their fierce rivals, a game at the impressive stadium in the Gulch won’t fail to remind you that Falcons always Rise Up.