The Populous-designed new SunTrust Park will open in spring 2017.
On the same day the Atlanta Braves broke ground on a $672-million stadium, they also broke some news. The team announced a 25-year agreement with Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks Inc. to name the new facility SunTrust Park.
The 41,500-seat stadium in Cumberland, Ga., will replace the Braves’ home of nearly 20 years, Turner Field, in the spring of 2017.
At the groundbreaking ceremonies, Braves officials said the deal includes marquee signage for SunTrust, additional promotional opportunities throughout the venue and in a mixed-use complex that will be adjacent to the park. Financial terms were not announced, but it was reported by the Atlanta Business Chronicle the deal could be worth up to $125 million.
“Both of our organizations have deep roots in Atlanta and across the nation,” Braves Chairman and CEO Terry McGuirk said during the ceremonies. “We couldn’t imagine a more perfect partner.”
The banking company, which has nearly 1,500 bank branches throughout the South, had a previous relationship with the Braves through sponsoring a luxury area behind home plate at Turner Field called the “SunTrust Club.”
“We have been here for 125 years and the Braves have been here since 1966, so it is two long-standing Atlanta citizens getting together,” President, Chairman and CEO of SunTrust Bank Georgia/North Florida Division Jenner Wood told Venues Today.
When the Braves announced they would leave Turner Field for a new destination 14 miles northwest of their old park, Wood said SunTrust was surprised at the move, but immediately interested in becoming a naming rights partner.
Construction on the $672-million SunTrust Park is underway.
The bank got to work quickly on a deal, wanting to work out a contract in time for the groundbreaking ceremonies.
“As they refer to SunTrust Park being built over the next two-and-a-half years, we’ll get a lot of free advertising,” Wood said. “We had casual conversations with them in 2013 and this spring. This summer we got serious. They were talking with other partners, but the relationship we already had led us to believe we could get it done.”
In terms of marketing the SunTrust brand, the company is also interested in the national reach of the Braves. Only a handful of teams like the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox can boast a wider spread fan base across the country. Not only has the team been highly successful on the field – winning the World Series in 1995 and winning their division every year between 1995 and 2005 – but they also had a television deal that helped grow followers in every state.
“Even in a broader sense, they were thought of as America’s team in the 1990s when (former owner) Ted Turner took them across the country with the ‘Super Station’ and they still are, in some ways, America’s team,” Wood said. “As we continue to expand our footprint – we have offices now in Texas, California, Chicago, Boston and New York – we think there is a lot of marketing synergy in our national reach and the Braves’ national reach.”
SunTrust Park.
The reach within the park will go beyond the 81 home games – and not just into the playoffs. There will be a “mixed-use development” connected to the stadium, which will likely include a restaurant and/or microbrewery as well as shops, offices and residences.
As for extra perks of the deal, Wood said details still need to be ironed out and that the new stadium will provide “unique client experiences.” If it is any indication of what those perks will be, at Turner Field, SunTrust owned the closest seats to home plate in all of Major League Baseball.
The team and SunTrust took their time ironing out one key detail: Whether to call the new facility SunTrust Park or SunTrust Stadium. They elected the former because it sounds more welcoming.
“It was not a decision we took lightly. The reason we decided on ‘Park’ is because a park is where friends and family come together,” Wood said. “And we think that will be present in SunTrust Park. It says that the venue is specific to friends, family and enjoyment – that is what a park means.”
SunTrust Park was designed by Populous, which has been the architect for 13 of the last 14 new MLB stadiums. Marlins Park in Miami, Fla., was their most recent project.
There is no word yet what will happen to 49,500-seat Turner Field, which was built in 1993 and used during the 1996 Summer Olympics.
Interviewed for this story: Jenner Wood, (404) 588-7230; Terry McGurik, (404) 577-9100