NFL team Atlanta Falcons have a new home and, as stadiums go, it's pretty amazing.
The brand-new 75,000 capacity Mercedes-Benz Stadium in downtown ATL looks like a cross between a birds' nest and a camera lens, and has been billed as the future of sports stadia.
The Falcons made their first prime-time appearance in their plush new pad on Sunday, and celebrated the house-warming with a 34-23 win over Green Bay Packers.
The stadium's 14-acre roof - the retractable part of which can open and close in 15 minutes and looks like a camera aperture - was apparently inspired by the way light enters the ancient Pantheon in Rome.
Each of the roof's eight 'petals' actually slides on runners in straight lines - not that it looks that way when they move into position.
Other mod-cons include the biggest video ‘360 halo board' in US sports, a 100-foot 'mega-column' video board, 16-storey 'window to the city' showing the ATL skyline, and wireless phone-charging points.
Oh, and there's a massive, four-storey statue of a bird (apparently the biggest in the world)…
As well as being home to the Falcons, the stadium also hosts Atlanta United FC, who broke the MLS single-game record when they packed the stands with more than 70,425 fans for their 3-3 draw with Orlando City on Saturday.
Atlanta United have now played there twice, scoring 10 goals in the process. Strong start.
All this, obviously, doesn’t come cheap - the stadium cost around $1.5 billion.
There has been some criticism that such an expensive structure, sitting as it does beside some of the poorest neighbourhoods in the south eastern US, may be an unwelcome reminder of disparity.
Georgia Senator Vincent Fort called the stadium development "nothing but an engine for gentrification".
The owner of the Atlanta Falcons, Arthur M Blank, has a foundation which has donated money to developments in the surrounding area, including a job training centre and new parks.
Stadium bosses are promising to keep things 'fan-first' when it comes to the match-day experience. That mean fans can walk around the entire stadium to catch up with friends, and drinks are apparently $2, including refills. FYI: those refills don't seem to include alcohol.
If, like us, you’re used to paying close to a tenner for the privilege of washing down a hotter-than-lava cheese slice that's just taken the roof off your mouth, with a warm, flat lager on a wet Wednesday night - this all might sound like the stuff of dreams.
That said, if you're there on a Sunday and fancy eating chicken, you might need to re-think your culinary plans.
One thing to balance that: average prices for Atlanta Falcons regular season NFL tickets is currently $173 - more than double the price of last year's ticket. And fans thinking of splashing out for a big occasion might still be disappointed: the Falcons are not selling single-game tickets, only season tickets...
The stadium will host concerts too. Garth Brooks is playing there soon. Yeah, we read that as Garth Crooks at first too.
Ah well…
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