by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Sep 8, 2017

Seven months into its first season and six weeks after originally scheduled, Atlanta United will open its $1.5 billion Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday against FC Dallas.

No MLS team ever moved into a new stadium so large because no MLS stadium -- even the NFL stadiums in which Seattle and New England play -- has a capacity as large as Mercedes-Benz Stadium's 75,000 seats.



Arthur Blank, owner of Atlanta United and the NFL Falcons, for whom the stadium was built, considered starting an MLS team a decade ago but would have had to build a (smaller) soccer-specific stadium.





Waiting allowed Blank to launch his MLS team as the new domed football stadium was being finished -- and save the money for a soccer stadium and spend it on building the most exciting team an MLS club has ever put on the field, and the first since the Seattle Sounders in 2009 with a shot at making the playoffs.



Waiting a decade also allowed the soccer interest build to the point that Atlanta United averaged 46,318 fans for nine games at Bobby Dodd Stadium, putting it on course to shatter the MLS season record held by the Sounders. The soccer capacity at Mercedes-Benz Stadium will be 42,500, and Atlanta United won't have any problem filling that.



An open house drew 40,000 fans, and Sunday's opener has been sold out for weeks. The full stadium (capacity: 75,000) will be open for games on Sept. 16 match against Orlando City and Oct. 22 against Toronto FC -- the season finale -- putting the MLS record crowd for a stand-alone game -- 69,275 for the LA Galaxy's opener at the Rose Bowl in 1996 -- in danger of being broken.



Getting the football stadium to fit for soccer required some engineering feats.



Retractable seats. Retractable seats in the corners will be pushed back, allowing the width of the field be expanded from football dimensions of 53 1/3 yards -- 160 feet -- to 75 yards for soccer.



Mechanized curtains. Assuming Atlanta United won't sell out the full stadium, the upper deck -- 31,000 seats -- will be closed off with retractable panels.



What engineering couldn't solve was the turf. The height of the stadium -- 305 feet -- made it impossible for grass to grow sufficiently, so Atlanta United will play on FieldTurf.



$60 million training center. Leaving nothing to chance, Blank spent $60 million on Atlanta United's training center in Marietta -- Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground -- which includes a full-level field with the same FieldTurf and same dimensions (115 yards by 75 yards) on which the team will play at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.