Inside Mercedes Benz Stadium, Atlanta’s £1.2bn Super Bowl venue with a chicken restaurant that’s CLOSED on game days
Atlanta's brand new, state-of-the-art 75,000-seat stadium will host the biggest show in American sports on Sunday
ATLANTA’s £1.2bn palace will be the centre of the sporting world on Sunday night for Super Bowl 53.
The stunning Mercedes Benz Stadium will host New England Patriots’ clash with Los Angeles Rams in front of huge TV audiences.
Opened in the summer of 2017, the 75,000-seat stadium replaced the nearby Georgia Dome as the home from NFL’s Atlanta Falcons.
The futuristic, striking look is in no small part down to the impressive retractable roof, which closes in just eight minutes.
Each of the eight sections of the roof weighs 500 tons, and when shut they display a Mercedes Benz badge on top.
Just below the retractable structure is the world’s largest video screen – which goes 360 degrees all the way around the rim of the roof.
Perhaps the most unique feature of all, though, is the chicken restaurant that is not open on NFL game days.
Food chain Chick-fil-A, which is best described as an American version of Nando’s, have a branch inside the stadium.
But their company policy dating back to 1946 means American football fans have to look elsewhere to find their snacks for the game.
Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy opened his first restaurant in Hapeville, Georgia and decided that Sundays should be for family, rest and worship.
It is a tradition that the brand still uphold today at their 2,200 restaurants.
But that doesn’t mean there’s a food shortage at Mercedes Benz Stadium – quite the opposite in fact.
The Atlanta Falcons offer the cheapest food and drink prices of any sports team in North America with a cheeseburger costing $5, Nachos available for $3, a hot dog coming in at $2 and a beer setting the punter back just $5.
That means the 75,000 lucky ones in attendance will be well nourished on Sunday night while hundreds of millions more watch Super Bowl 53 around the world.