At first birthday, Mercedes-Benz Stadium is making food, beer even cheaper

A year ago this week, Mercedes-Benz Stadium debuted with what its leadership group describes as “the lowest concessions prices in professional sports.” The fan-friendly tactic ($2 or $3 for hot dogs and refillable sodas, etc.) has since been copied at coliseums far and wide, including Philips Arena.

But now, The Benz is saying, essentially, “Hold my beer.”

Or more specifically: “Hold my stadium-exclusive craft beer that will cost you only $5.”

To help mark the stadium’s one-year anniversary, officials announced today that some popular items will be discounted by 12 percent and a $5 craft beer option will be unveiled in September.

Maybe that’ll help offset the price of attending events at the stadium. Getting in the door for the Falcons’s home-opener on Sept. 16, for instance, costs at least $95 right now, per Ticketmaster.

Curbed Atlanta

It doesn’t sound like the discounted fare has hurt the bottom line for AMB Group, the Falcons’s and Atlanta United parent company.

Last year, average spending on concessions “increased at Falcons games by 16 percent per person over the previous season, despite a 50 percent decrease in pricing,” officials noted in a press release. “Data also showed that more than 6,000 Falcons fans per game entered the stadium as much as an hour earlier to take advantage of the options and pricing in the stadium.”

You don’t become a billionaire, after all, by being a dummy.

The latest round of price cuts on premium grub will take effect August 30. Specifically, they are:

ATL Italian Sausage: to $7

Shock Top Bratwurst: to $8

ATL Bud Burger: to $8

West Nest’s Free Range Fried Chicken Sandwich: to $10

Chili Cheese Fries: to $9

Cheese Fries: to $5

Priced at $5 for a 12-ounce draft (and $7 for a 20-ouncer), the exclusive new craft beer—the product of a partnership with an unnamed Atlanta brewery—will debut at the aforementioned Falcons game in mid-September.

“Arthur [Blank] is going to keep challenging us to go lower and we’re going to keep listening to the fans, so this is probably not the last [round of discounts],” Steve Cannon, AMB Group CEO, said in the release.

Officials stressed that prices won’t fluctuate for any event, including the Super Bowl in February.