Guide to Mercedes-Benz Stadium with Kids

Photo Credit | Atlanta Falcons

Watching sports can be fun for the whole family, and attending a game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta can be a treat. The brand new stadium makes the experience a blast–with a huge rotating screen to watch the action and replays, great views of Downtown Atlanta, yummy foods, and sports action from all angles. You can even take a guided tour to learn about the venue.

Game Day Fan Experience

When you enter the new home of the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United, it is overwhelming for kids and adults. The large, rotating screen plays videos and replays during the game, and pumps up fans even more than before. The field can be viewed anywhere from the inside, and there are 2,000 TV screens, so you never miss a second. If you Instagram or Snapchat during the game, your family could end up on one of the screens. Check out game day special features or events here before attending. Hop on MARTA for a quick way to get downtown, with extra trains running on game days and multiple stops close by: Five Points, Vine City and Dome/Philips Arena.

Concessions

Mercedes-Benz Stadium is the first major sports facility or team to offer “Fan First Pricing,” which means guests won’t spend an arm and a leg on concessions. Basic foods and drinks are between $2-$6. For example, $2 for unlimited free refills for soda, $2 for a hot dog or popcorn and $5 for a cheeseburger. There are tons of other delicious options (not included in the special pricing, but to give more options) including Jim ‘N Nicks Bar-B-Q, Delia’s Chicken Sausage and more Molly B’s Cookhouse, inside the stadium overlooking the field, offers a variety of moderately priced, tasty options ($8-$18). There is no kid’s menu, but my kids said their meals from the regular menu were “delicious.”

Janeen Lewis

Tour the Stadium

“Wow! That’s huge!” This reaction came from my daughter, Gracie, 8, when she first saw the panoramic views of the field from the top concourse of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The stadium’s sights engaged Gracie and her brother, Andrew, 11, during our entire guided tour. From the moment we encountered the nearly 42-foot tall stainless steel statue of a falcon clutching a football until the finale – when the kids had permission to race and turn cartwheels across the playing field – we were wowed.

The tour started at the top, or 300 Concourse, where we saw Atlanta’s skyline from the Window to the City and meandered through the 100-Yard Club, a space with field markers on the floor and columns with 11-foot photos of the current Falcon players. Next, we stopped by the 200 concourse, which houses the AT&T Perch, a state-of-the art technology hub complete with a vast array of screens for game days.

On the 100 concourse, Gracie was awed by the jumbo football-shaped chandelier in the Gullwing Club, and I liked seeing the first automobile, patented by Carl Benz, a one-cylinder three-wheeled car that went 10 miles per hour. We were all drawn to the Georgia Homegrown Legends display, a wall that holds football helmets from high school teams in Georgia.

At the field level, Andrew, who is an avid football fan, enjoyed visiting the Falcons players’ locker rooms and walking through the tunnel the Falcons follow to the their game field. Both kids’ favorite part was playing on the field.

Some fun facts from our tour: From the field to the roof, the stadium could hold the Statue of Liberty. It has 4,000 solar panels that produce enough energy to power 10 Falcons’ games. The Halo Board is the largest non-transparent LED video display in the world, with 38.1 million LED bulbs.

With its blend of architecture, technology and art, the Mercedes-Benz Stadium will impress family members of all ages.

Know Before You Go: This is a walking tour, so wear comfortable shoes. Strollers are welcome, but must be checked at the gate. There are elevators, escalators and bathrooms with baby changing stations throughout the stadium.

Hours: Daily, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Guided tours run every hour but are not available on game or event days. It’s best to reserve tours in advance online or by phone.

Admission: Adults $25; ages 3-12, $20; younger than 3, free.

Getting There

Hop on MARTA for a quick way to get downtown, with extra trains running on game days and multiple stops close by: Five Points, Vine City and Dome/Philips Arena.

– Janeen Lewis contributed to this article