31. SunTrust Park
Exactly ten years and a day after my one visit to Turner Field, I returned to Atlanta to see a game at the newly opened suburban home of the Braves, SunTrust Park. Like that game a decade ago, the Braves came out on the wrong side with a 5-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in what was the 12th ever regular season game at SunTrust.
SunTrust Park is perhaps the most egregious example of an unnecessary giveaway of taxpayer funds to a professional sports team that has occurred in the United States. Turner Field served as the home of the Braves for 20 seasons, and while it wasn't a groudbreaking park, it was more than adequate for baseball. Naturally, the Braves decided that they would make more money out in the suburbs of Atlanta, specifically Cobb County, which they claimed was "near the geographic center of the Braves' fan base". They also got to control development around the stadium, which resulted in the Battery complex.
Basically, SunTrust is surrounded by the faux city development style that is represented in Cleveland by Crocker Park. Since this is the very first season at SunTrust, many of the surrounding buildings are not yet occupied, but "coming soon" signs for restaurants and retail abounded as we walked from our parking garage to the park.
The park itself is nice enough. My sister, my brother-in-law and I sat in the 300 section behind home plate. The seats were wide and had the requisite cup holders. More importantly, the architects cantilevered the upper deck to put it closer to the action, and it was noticeable. We felt very close to the action even though there was only one row higher up than ours. We were also under the awning, which came in handy when a minor rain storm blew through during the game. People in the lower levels were abandoning their seats (play did not stop) but we didn't even get dripped on. The awnings were backlit with red and blue LEDs, which looked nice from outside the park.
Another thing I noticed from my seats was that the nets that provide protection from foul balls were far more extensive than any other park that I've been to. They went all the way down to the ends of the dugout. I predict more teams will do this in the near future for liability reasons. One day a clever lawyer will find a way past "you are responsible for watching out for objects leaving the field of play" (probably after a horrible tragedy) and other parks will follow Atlanta's lead on this.
The major problem with the park is the jumbotrons. It's acceptable to have small videoboards at Fenway when the scoreboards have to be fit into a century old park, but in a brand new purpose built baseball park, the pathetic small size and poor layout of the scoreboards is not acceptable. The Jake remains the gold standard here, especially after the 2016 renovations. Atlanta should have paid attention.
They also should have made the upper deck corridors wider, or otherwise figured out a better a way to lay out concessions so that the lines didn't block the hallways. This was only the second Saturday night game in the history of the park, so I'm sure they are still working out the kinks, but the close to capacity crowd resulted in such long lines that I didn't eat anything at the game and found that moving through the crowd was a challenge. This, combined with our arriving in the park just in time for first pitch, meant that I only walked around a bit of the upper deck and did not fully circle the park as I like to. There were some concessions that looked interesting to me (including multiple dessert only stands) but the lines were long enough to make me lose interest.
Another kink that hopefully gets worked out is the post-game traffic. We sat and waited to get on the interstate for what felt like hours. Bad traffic is par for the course for Atlanta though, so I'm not hopeful. At best, we can park farther away and walk to the park so that we can avoid some of it. Something that might change is the lack of ticket stubs. My sister bought tickets via mobile app, but unlike the Jake where you get a paper stub upon arrival here it was all phone all the time, so the stub for my collection will be a screen cap from my sister's phone. Weird.
We had gorgeous weather on this early May night, but I'm concerned about how hot it will be in late summer. Apparently there is extensive air conditioning in the park despite the lack of a dome; I hate to think how much that will cost to operate.
On the whole, this is a nice enough park, with all the usual amenities. Aside from the location and the traffic, the major drawback is that unlike some of the better parks on this list there's nothing in it that gives SunTrust Park a sense of place. From Turner Field you can see the state capitol dome. Here, you just see generic suburban buildings. You could be in pretty much any suburb.
My sister will no doubt be living in Atlanta for years to come, and there was nothing that would inherently keep me from returning. On the other hand, there's little about it that stands out, they didn't need a new park, and the new location makes it much harder to reach from my sister's house than Turner Field is. Put all that together, and it falls pretty squarely into "the new but not special" range of my rankings, which is pretty much where Turner Field was.
Park Rankings
RankParkTeamFirst Visit# Visits (at time of article)
1 Marlins ParkMiami MarlinsMay 23, 20141
2 Wrigley FieldChicago CubsApril 23, 20042
3 PNC ParkPittsburgh PiratesSeptember 25, 20042
4 Jacobs FieldCleveland IndiansApril 17, 199963
5 Miller ParkMilwaukee BrewersApril 24, 20041
6 Camden YardsBaltimore OriolesJune 22, 20121
7 Kauffman StadiumKansas City RoyalsJune 9, 20131
8 Petco ParkSan Diego PadresApril 27, 20151
9 Fenway ParkBoston Red SoxJuly 1, 20161
10 Yankee Stadium (original)New York YankeesJuly 28, 20061
11 Minute Maid ParkHouston AstrosMay 21, 20161
12 Chase FieldArizona DiamondbacksApril 25, 20151
13 Safeco FieldSeattle MarinersAugust 25, 20141
14 Coors FieldColorado RockiesApril 20, 20151
15 Comerica ParkDetroit TigersJuly 31, 20041
16 Target FieldMinnesota TwinsJuly 25, 20141
17 Turner FieldAtlanta BravesMay 5, 20071
18SunTrust ParkAtlanta BravesMay 6, 20171
19 Busch Stadium IIISt. Louis CardinalsAugust 8, 20131
20 Nationals ParkWashington NationalsJune 21, 20121
21 Citizens Bank ParkPhiladelphia PhilliesJune 23, 20121
22 Citi FieldNew York MetsJune 24, 20121
23 Globe Life ParkTexas RangersMay 27, 20161
24 Rogers CentreToronto Blue JaysMay 21, 20051
25 Cinergy FieldCincinnati RedsAugust 8, 19984
26 Yankee Stadium (sequel)New York YankeesJune 25, 20121
27 The MetrodomeMinnesota TwinsJune 22, 19923
28 Shea StadiumNew York MetsJuly 24, 20061
29 Great American Ball ParkCincinnati RedsMay 9, 20041
30 U.S. Cellular FieldChicago White SoxApril 25, 20041
31 Tropicana FieldTampa Bay RaysMay 21, 20141
Background: Prologue Memory Interlude
Original Series End
SunTrust Park is perhaps the most egregious example of an unnecessary giveaway of taxpayer funds to a professional sports team that has occurred in the United States. Turner Field served as the home of the Braves for 20 seasons, and while it wasn't a groudbreaking park, it was more than adequate for baseball. Naturally, the Braves decided that they would make more money out in the suburbs of Atlanta, specifically Cobb County, which they claimed was "near the geographic center of the Braves' fan base". They also got to control development around the stadium, which resulted in the Battery complex.
Basically, SunTrust is surrounded by the faux city development style that is represented in Cleveland by Crocker Park. Since this is the very first season at SunTrust, many of the surrounding buildings are not yet occupied, but "coming soon" signs for restaurants and retail abounded as we walked from our parking garage to the park.
The park itself is nice enough. My sister, my brother-in-law and I sat in the 300 section behind home plate. The seats were wide and had the requisite cup holders. More importantly, the architects cantilevered the upper deck to put it closer to the action, and it was noticeable. We felt very close to the action even though there was only one row higher up than ours. We were also under the awning, which came in handy when a minor rain storm blew through during the game. People in the lower levels were abandoning their seats (play did not stop) but we didn't even get dripped on. The awnings were backlit with red and blue LEDs, which looked nice from outside the park.
Another thing I noticed from my seats was that the nets that provide protection from foul balls were far more extensive than any other park that I've been to. They went all the way down to the ends of the dugout. I predict more teams will do this in the near future for liability reasons. One day a clever lawyer will find a way past "you are responsible for watching out for objects leaving the field of play" (probably after a horrible tragedy) and other parks will follow Atlanta's lead on this.
The major problem with the park is the jumbotrons. It's acceptable to have small videoboards at Fenway when the scoreboards have to be fit into a century old park, but in a brand new purpose built baseball park, the pathetic small size and poor layout of the scoreboards is not acceptable. The Jake remains the gold standard here, especially after the 2016 renovations. Atlanta should have paid attention.
They also should have made the upper deck corridors wider, or otherwise figured out a better a way to lay out concessions so that the lines didn't block the hallways. This was only the second Saturday night game in the history of the park, so I'm sure they are still working out the kinks, but the close to capacity crowd resulted in such long lines that I didn't eat anything at the game and found that moving through the crowd was a challenge. This, combined with our arriving in the park just in time for first pitch, meant that I only walked around a bit of the upper deck and did not fully circle the park as I like to. There were some concessions that looked interesting to me (including multiple dessert only stands) but the lines were long enough to make me lose interest.
Another kink that hopefully gets worked out is the post-game traffic. We sat and waited to get on the interstate for what felt like hours. Bad traffic is par for the course for Atlanta though, so I'm not hopeful. At best, we can park farther away and walk to the park so that we can avoid some of it. Something that might change is the lack of ticket stubs. My sister bought tickets via mobile app, but unlike the Jake where you get a paper stub upon arrival here it was all phone all the time, so the stub for my collection will be a screen cap from my sister's phone. Weird.
We had gorgeous weather on this early May night, but I'm concerned about how hot it will be in late summer. Apparently there is extensive air conditioning in the park despite the lack of a dome; I hate to think how much that will cost to operate.
On the whole, this is a nice enough park, with all the usual amenities. Aside from the location and the traffic, the major drawback is that unlike some of the better parks on this list there's nothing in it that gives SunTrust Park a sense of place. From Turner Field you can see the state capitol dome. Here, you just see generic suburban buildings. You could be in pretty much any suburb.
My sister will no doubt be living in Atlanta for years to come, and there was nothing that would inherently keep me from returning. On the other hand, there's little about it that stands out, they didn't need a new park, and the new location makes it much harder to reach from my sister's house than Turner Field is. Put all that together, and it falls pretty squarely into "the new but not special" range of my rankings, which is pretty much where Turner Field was.
Park Rankings
RankParkTeamFirst Visit# Visits (at time of article)
1 Marlins ParkMiami MarlinsMay 23, 20141
2 Wrigley FieldChicago CubsApril 23, 20042
3 PNC ParkPittsburgh PiratesSeptember 25, 20042
4 Jacobs FieldCleveland IndiansApril 17, 199963
5 Miller ParkMilwaukee BrewersApril 24, 20041
6 Camden YardsBaltimore OriolesJune 22, 20121
7 Kauffman StadiumKansas City RoyalsJune 9, 20131
8 Petco ParkSan Diego PadresApril 27, 20151
9 Fenway ParkBoston Red SoxJuly 1, 20161
10 Yankee Stadium (original)New York YankeesJuly 28, 20061
11 Minute Maid ParkHouston AstrosMay 21, 20161
12 Chase FieldArizona DiamondbacksApril 25, 20151
13 Safeco FieldSeattle MarinersAugust 25, 20141
14 Coors FieldColorado RockiesApril 20, 20151
15 Comerica ParkDetroit TigersJuly 31, 20041
16 Target FieldMinnesota TwinsJuly 25, 20141
17 Turner FieldAtlanta BravesMay 5, 20071
18SunTrust ParkAtlanta BravesMay 6, 20171
19 Busch Stadium IIISt. Louis CardinalsAugust 8, 20131
20 Nationals ParkWashington NationalsJune 21, 20121
21 Citizens Bank ParkPhiladelphia PhilliesJune 23, 20121
22 Citi FieldNew York MetsJune 24, 20121
23 Globe Life ParkTexas RangersMay 27, 20161
24 Rogers CentreToronto Blue JaysMay 21, 20051
25 Cinergy FieldCincinnati RedsAugust 8, 19984
26 Yankee Stadium (sequel)New York YankeesJune 25, 20121
27 The MetrodomeMinnesota TwinsJune 22, 19923
28 Shea StadiumNew York MetsJuly 24, 20061
29 Great American Ball ParkCincinnati RedsMay 9, 20041
30 U.S. Cellular FieldChicago White SoxApril 25, 20041
31 Tropicana FieldTampa Bay RaysMay 21, 20141
Background: Prologue Memory Interlude
Original Series End