Falcons Announce $200M in Stadium Changes

When the going price for a new stadium these days is a cool $1.5 billion, a couple hundred million dollars in on-the-fly changes shouldn’t be too much trouble. With a complex design comes demand for new steel, but Atlanta Falcons President and CEO Rich McKay has allayed fears that the fix-ups will delay the opening of the venue.

“When you look at the change orders – $200 million in change orders – it’s principally in steel from the complexity of design,” he explained to reporters on Thursday following a media tour of the stadium. “That’s where that [cost] is. We knew it was coming.”

“Those overruns were principally driven by…the amount of steel involved, the numbers of cranes involved to make sure that we get the stadium up on time. All those things went into that,” he continued. “We’re pretty confident in our timetable. June 1 [2017] is a good date for us.”

The section of the roof requiring said steel is on track to be completed by September, with approximately 1,500 workers putting in six days a week to keep the operation on schedule.

The Falcons will open the 2017 NFL preseason at their new home, making this upcoming season their last in the outdated Georgia Dome. However, there is a chance that the city’s beloved football team won’t be the first franchise to christen Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Pending the Major League Soccer schedule, newcomers Atlanta United, who will share the stadium with the Falcons, could get first crack at the new facility.

Even in its early years, the venue and its employees will be working overtime to cater for a number of world-class sporting events. As is customary in the modern NFL, a new stadium is a sure-fire way to score your city a Super Bowl.

This construction is no exception, with Atlanta set to host Super Bowl LIII in 2019. The big game will be shoehorned between the College Football National Championship in 2018 and the Men’s College Basketball Final Four in 2020.