The Atlanta Braves will leave Turner Field at the end of the 2016 season and open SunTrust Park on April 13th vs the San Diego Padres.
Despite a rough season so far in 2016, the Atlanta Braves have a minor league system and a brand new park in the horizon that give the franchise and the fanbase something to look forward to in the future.
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Last night, The Associated Press reported that date that Braves fans can circle on their calendars for the opening of the brand new ballpark.
"The Atlanta Braves are scheduled to open SunTrust Park on April 13, 2017, against the San Diego Padres, according to a copy of the team’s preliminary schedule obtained by The Associated Press."
The 2017 schedule has yet to be released and is still subject to change before it is finalized in the final month of the season. Tentatively, the schedule has the Braves playing the first eight games of the 2017 season on the road, including opening the season in Pittsburgh, followed by trips to New York and Miami.
As noted in the ESPN article, the Braves could schedule some exhibition games before the season opens to test the park with a dry run. This is a common place for team’s opening new ballparks in the past.
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The stadium will be the Braves second new stadium in the past two decades. Turner Field initially opened it’s doors on March 29th, 1997. The stadium was originally built to help Atlanta accommodate the 1998 Olympics that took place in the city.
SunTrust field will be moving away from downtown Atlanta, where the Ted is now located. Instead, the ballpark will be in a suburb of Atlanta, in the Cobb County area.
The move will make it more difficult for fans to find parking though. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Cobb County has awarded the Braves with a “monopoly on gameday parking.”
"Commissioners in February quietly passed an ordinance that outlaws property owners within a half-mile of the stadium from charging for parking during games and other special events at the stadium…“This irks the (heck) out of me,” said [local office building owner Fred] Beloin, who has previously tangled with the county over zoning around the stadium, and was unaware of the ordinance until told about it an Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter. “They say they’re increasing my property value and then they do everything in their power to make sure I get no benefit out of it.”The ordinance closes off potential revenue for dozens of businesses that own more than 10,000 private spaces — many of which could compete with the team for parking revenue."
With parking expected to be a hassle for fans, no MARTA train rides available to the park like they are for Turner Field, and the lack of success for the Atlanta Braves in 2016, it could be interesting to see how fans react (or don’t) when it comes to filling out the ballpark in 2017 and beyond.
SunTrust Field will surprisingly enough not have a retractable roof, which is an interesting decision considering Georgia weather during the summer.
The Braves rank 25th in attendance so far in 2016.