- June 3, 2025
- Posted by: SportsV
- Categories: Featured Articles, Features, Home News, Industry News, Interviews, News, Press Releases
As global attention turns to Atlanta ahead of a summer packed with high-profile international sporting fixtures and the biggest music artists in the world taking to the stage, Mercedes-Benz stadium is at the forefront of multipurpose venue innovation. It has become a model for how a stadium can operate at maximum intensity without any need to sacrifice fan experience – with infrastructure and culture at the heart of its success, as Jack Watson reports.
Situated in Atlanta, Georgia, the $1.6 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium was opened in 2017 and the 71,000-capacity venue is the regular host of MLS side Atlanta United and NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, but is fast becoming the go-to destination for international sports events and large concerts.
Dietmar Exler, COO of AMB Sports + Entertainment, who oversees operations at the stadium, said:
“We are one of the busiest stadiums, if not the busiest, in the world.”
Keeping his team and the Mercedes-Benz Stadium busy this summer alone is six FIFA Club World Cup matches, concerts ranging from Metallica to Beyonce, and the regular Atlanta United’s MLS events and the Atlanta Falcons’ NFL games.
Each event requires the stadium and surrounding area to pivot quickly from one unique to the next – with windows as little as five days between the final FIFA Club World Cup match and the first Beyonce show. This presents not just logistical challenges, but cultural ones too.
Exler, who says the unique culture of the city makes for the perfect venue for teams playing away from their usual home, allowing fans to buy into a rounded and welcoming experience, explained:
“We have a multi-purpose stadium, but if you come in for a soccer match then you will quickly feel as if this is a purpose-built soccer stadium. The atmosphere will be out of this world.
“We hosted the opening match at Copa 2024, Argentina vs Canada, and it was a soccer festival and absolutely awesome. We are expecting the same atmosphere for the Club World Cup.”
Creating such an atmosphere in a neutral stadium thousands of miles from where clubs are located takes more than just a state-of-the-art facility. It requires cultural buy-in from the city and seamless infrastructure to deliver an unforgettable fan experience – something that has made Mercedes-Benz Stadium a global success.
Exler added:
“We have teams that are coming back to Atlanta and it’s not just because of the stadium, there’s a really exciting and strong soccer community in Atlanta. The setup in the city of Atlanta, the hotel rooms, and infrastructure – 20 minutes from the airport to the stadium via the subway – makes it very convenient for the fans and the organisations to attend. We’re doing huge international events on a regular basis. We have the state, city, police department, all working together on the events on a regular basis – there is one team doing it that makes it really easy for promoters to come and organise the whole event.”
Dan Corso, President of the Atlanta Sports Council, has led on delivering an experience that goes beyond the impressive stadium walls of the stadium. He adds that Atlanta’s status as a global hub boosts its appeal to international event organisers.
Corso said:
“Atlanta’s population is an international population, many people and organisations call this home. We believe that adds to the appeal of the international soccer fan and to the international event organisers for soccer matches that Atlanta is the global hub because we have the population base, the corporate base but we also have an airport that connects us very easily to all parts of the world. That combination along with the operational infrastructure that is in place makes an enticing major sporting events and international matches to call Atlanta their place.”
In addition to the culture and infrastructure, the stadium also boasts head-turning architecture, courtesy of HOK. While some modern stadia, especially in Europe, has been labelled less characteristic than the older venues they replaced, Mercedes-Benz Stadium embraces modern design, while building on Atlanta’s strong foundations.
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Exler said:
“The architecture has two fantastic draws, the roof and the Halo Board. The roof is fantastic and we initially made a mistake in the early days and would open the roof before the fans came in. We now open the roof once the fans are in the building and you should see the amount of phones that are filming it and showing others. We also have the Halo Board, the continuous screen circling around the roof of the stadium.”
The screen itself is a major attraction. The innovative 360-degree display, known as the Halo Board, stands almost 60 feet in the air and features a connected circular LED display with over 60,000 square feet of display area – a visual centrepiece that enhances the fan experience.
Inside the stadium the culture is just as important as the jaw-dropping architecture on display, which is shown through every interaction and making affordable experiences, as Exler explained:
“Our fan-friendly pricing has not changed since 2017, hot dogs are still $2.00 and it’s not going to go up. And when you come to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, you will find that everybody is nice and friendly, that is a big focus for us. We say to everyone that if you work at the stadium, whatever your role or position, you are there for the fans. A huge effort goes into making the fans have the best experience.”
Thorough investment in infrastructure and culture has led to a summer programme of events that makes Mercedes-Benz Stadium unmissable to any sports or music fan, and there’s no stopping there. The stadium’s crowning glory on the world stage will be in 2026 when the FIFA World Cup™ rolls into town, where seven matches, including a semi-final, will be played.
The 2026 World Cup™ brings the largest football festival to town, with many opportunities following, as Corso explained:
“We view the hosting of World Cup matches in 2026 as a state-wide hosting, not just the city of Atlanta where the matches are going to be. We really want to showcase what our city and our state has to offer.”
The business doesn’t stop there. Mercedes-Benz Stadium is in the hat for hosting matches at the 2031 Men’s and 2033 Women’s Rugby World Cup. Exler said:
“The stadium is ready, the city is ready and it’s an exciting opportunity that we’re pursuing here with rugby to be part of the championship.”
It seems that whatever sporting event comes the way of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, be it the biggest world matches in football, NFL or rugby, the stadium and city of Atlanta have it covered, showing that the combination of infrastructure and culture is a winning formula on the world stage.
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