In 2017, when Mercedes-Benz Stadium (MBS) stunned the industry by slashing the prices of its most popular food and drink items by 50%, it sparked a revolution in stadium pricing. Now, the stadium is cutting prices again, by a further 11%.
On March 10, when Atlanta United FC hosts FC Cincinnati, fans will see five of the top food items – hot dog, burger, pretzel bites, chips, ice cream – at lower prices with the top-selling fan favorite, the hot dog, costing just US$1.50.
When the team introduced its 50% lower fan-first pricing system, it saw average fan spend increase by 16%, despite offering the lowest F&B prices in the league.
The Atlanta Falcons’ stadium has been rated number one in all food and beverage categories for the second consecutive year in an NFL fan survey. As part of MBS’s year-two success, stadium executives created operational efficiencies that further helped to improved bottom line margins by 15% over 2017 without raising prices, and while offering reduced prices on six concession items in 2018.
As well as the new lower pricing, the MBS will also become the first NFL and MLS stadium to implement complete stadium-wide cashless transactions. This move to cashless has been the enabler for the team to lower the prices by moving away from whole-dollar pricing.
“(Atlanta Falcons owner) Arthur Blank repeatedly challenges us to find innovative ways to further improve operations across our businesses,” said Steve Cannon, AMB Group CEO.
“As we’ve always said, it is incumbent on us to listen and respond to our fans and we’ve heard that value, quality and speed of service are incredibly important; therefore, we’ve again made operational adjustments that address each of these areas. Our fans are our most important influencers and we want to ensure they have the level of service they’ve come to expect from Mercedes-Benz Stadium.”
