The Atlanta Braves said goodbye to Turner Field at the end of the 2016 season, ending the stadium’s 20 season run. The Braves announced they would open the new stadium called SunTrust Park in February 2017 in Cobb County. The stadium will be about 10 miles from downtown Atlanta.
Originally created for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Turner Field once seated 85,000 and holds the highest recorded playoff game attendance with 54,357 fans. The stadium was opened during the Braves dominant run of the 1990s, where the team won 11 straight division titles, nine of them coming while the team played in Turner Field.
SunTrust Park will feature 41,500 seats compared to Turner Field’s 49,586 seats to create a more intimate feel. It combines a classic stadium feel fresh with modern amenities. The park will hold 4,000 premium seats and it will have an 18,000 foot hospitality club. It will feature the closest percentage of seats close to the field, making each seat a great one.
The hospitality club will be decorated with historic team memorabilia and state of the art technology and designs. It will have two operating kitchens, a 30-foot elegant bar design as well as a side bar with two LED video boards.
There will be two party deck patios in right field that will include a full menu, beer, and a total of 10,000 square feet. SunTrust Park will feature more than 11,000 parking spaces to increase the ease of transportation, which is 2,500 more than Turner Field. There are additionally 30,000 spaces within a few miles of the stadium.
The cost of the stadium was $622 million, and Cobb County contributed at least $392 million to the project. The total cost of the area with its surrounding development is over $1.1 billion. The designers behind the stadium were Populous, who have designed 19 of the 30 Major League stadiums.
SunTrust Park is surrounded by a new entertainment district, complete with restaurants, bars, hotels, and residential buildings. The entertainment area will be known as The Battery Atlanta.
The dimensions of the field will have a slightly deeper left field than right field. The left field line will measure at 335 feet, right field at 325 feet, and center field at the standard 400 feet.
Georgia State University is currently negotiating terms to take over Turner Field and the surrounding area for campus expansion and improvements. They plan to renovate and convert Turner Field into the team’s football stadium and to use the outline of former Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium for a baseball stadium and housing units.
