House That Hank Built
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2017: Welcome to SunTrust Park

By Alan Carpenter

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Today was a milestone day in the history of the Atlanta Braves franchise:  not only was this a day marking the official groundbreaking for the construction of their new stadium, but in an accompanying announcement:  the stadium already has a name.

SunTrust Park

The Atlanta Braves now have a 25 year partnership with SunTrust Bank for naming rights, promotional considerations, marquee signage and more – probably including an on-site SunTrust branch within the mixed-use facility surrounding the new ballpark complex.

As part of today’s announcement, SunTrust CEO Willian Rogers made public a donation of $100,000 to Hank Aaron’s Chasing the Dream Foundation , a scholarship and financial assistance program for children attempting to further their own dreams via education or the arts.

What Does This Mean for 2017?

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    • It means that the team is clearly on track and marching forward with their stadium plans.  Very little has slowed their progress thus far – this including the various lawsuits or threats of same that have been attempting to challenge the process at which Cobb County and the Braves arrived at their own partnership for sharing the costs of building this ambitious project.  With the naming rights situation already firmly in place, this will also go a long way into helping the team make future plans for teams budgets, stadium amenities, and perhaps even other deals to bring commercial interests into the complex.

    This has been the vision articulated by the team  ever since the stadium announcement, made last November:  to increase club revenues with a fan-friendly venue that includes year-round activities that would be attractive to the region.  It appears that this vision is alive and well, and on schedule for a 2017 start.

    Family-Friendlyness

    This is the message we continue hear about the stadium, though aside from the newest renderings (shown below – larger versions can be seen at the Atlanta Braves website via this link), there haven’t been a lot of specifics about this as yet.  There are a few things evident from the drawings, though:

    • more roof area, though that does not extend over all four decks
    • the four decks are set up to place fans closer to the field – even those in the upper decks
    • while dimensions have not been published (expected to be close to those of Turner Field), the one very noticeable difference is significantly less foul territory.  This means fans better be wary, but it makes for great seats – albeit unhappy pitchers.

    Oh, and if you’re looking for something Iconic of the Deep South in this new building… wait, is that Kudzu climbing the walls in that picture above?

    Nice to have some upbeat team news today!

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