Just one win from the Super Bowl, the Atlanta Falcons are in a position to further increase interest in Mercedes-Benz Stadium before its opening.
Hype for Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which is scheduled to open next summer, has been building for some time. The state-of-the-art facility is expected to provide numerous modern amenities for Falcons games, including the latest in technology in premium seating options. That has caught the attention of the NFL, which has awarded Atlanta with Super Bowl LIII in 2019. Anticipation for Mercedes-Benz Stadium even extends beyond the NFL, as the MLS’ Atlanta United FC is scheduled to play its first game at the venue on July 30.
For right now, however, the focus is on the Falcons, who are set to host the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday. A win in that game sends the franchise to what it would only be its second Super Bowl, while also marking a solid finale at the Georgia Dome.
It stands reason that the energy generated by a Super Bowl appearance would carry over to this fall, adding more anticipation to the opening of Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Given that the Falcons have already sold a reported figure of more than 41,000 personal seat licenses (PSLs), the number could grow with a Super Bowl appearance. More from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
The Falcons had sold 41,102 seat licenses as of late last week, according to Michael Drake, the organization’s senior vice president and chief revenue officer. And the team said it has received a significant number of leads on potential additional sales since defeating Seattle to advance to the NFC championship game.
The Falcons face the Green Bay Packers on Sunday in the Georgia Dome’s final football game, with the winner going to the Super Bowl. It would be just the second Super Bowl berth in the 51-year history of the Atlanta franchise.
Tom Smith, a professor at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, whose specialties include the economics of sports, predicted the Falcons will see “a super huge spike” in seat-license sales if they win Sunday.
“If the Falcons win, they’ve got two weeks (before the Super Bowl) to flood the airwaves with more commercials about PSLs,” Smith said. “It’s a huge opportunity … to have people out there pounding the pavement, going to corporate and different entities, saying, ‘Don’t you want a piece of this?’
Even before their playoff run, the Falcons were seeing signs of strong corporate support for the stadium. The evidence suggests that fan interest is strong as well, but a Super Bowl appearance could only further that trend.
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