Suntrust Park: Before the Ballgame
Baseball is one of the most popular American sports, and it’s been that way for hundreds of years. But as baseball has gotten more popular, the stadiums hosting the games have had to get more and more impressive. The best example of this is the newest MLB stadium, Suntrust Park. You could go to the stadium, not watch even a second of baseball, and still have a great time with everything they have there, such as ping pong, dozens of bars and restaurants, and many more places. With everything that the stadium offers, everybody is trying to get into the stadium as soon as possible. But the most overlooked part of any stadium is the area before it. Every stadium has these areas, but everybody overlooks them. People might notice a few things, but their minds are focused on whatever event they’re going to see, not the area before the stadium. But if you come before the ballgame, there’s not as much to focus on, even if the gates have already opened. But what about hours before the gates open? Are these outside areas as populated as when the gates are open, and do the areas make an effort to engage the early crew?
Obviously, the time of arrival to the stadium greatly affects how long of a line there is to get in. But not only do different gates have different line sizes, but different ways to engage those waiting. Suntrust Park has five different gates, those being Left Field, 3rd Base, 1st Base, Right Field, and Chop House. But which gates are the best and most interesting to go to?
Starting in order, Left Field Gate isn’t super interesting, but it’s the best to go on a sunny day. That’s because the stadium’s shadow is cast down onto the gate, which can help provide some much needed shade from the hot Georgia sun. The waiting space is pretty decent, not huge, but bigger than others. Other than that, the only other thing of note is the Warren Spahn statue, and a plaque on it with some facts about him.
Up next is the largest gate, 3rd Base Gate. It is pretty huge, and slightly more interesting than the previous gate. The 3rd Base Gate totes a statue of its own, that being of Phil Niekro, which is also accompanied by a plaque filled with stats. But there’s also a dose of corporate synergy due to the giant vertical stabilizer from a Delta plane. For the majority of people that don’t know what that is, it’s the wing that’s standing up on the back of the plane. So, 3rd base is slightly better, but not by too much.
Now we have the objectively worst gate, that being the 1st Base Gate. Not only is it in the direct path of the sun, but the standing area is tiny, which isn’t good for actually trying to get into the stadium. But just like the last two gates, 1st Base Gate has a statue, this time of former manager Bobby Cox.
Unlike the previous gates, the Right Field Gate and the Chop House Gate are in practically the same location. But this location is the best thing about Suntrust Park that’s not in the park. That is the Battery. Now, the name doesn’t give any clues, but the Battery is a large area with dozens of restaurants, bars, music, and even areas for kids to play. There’s an area with giant water spouts for kids to play in to beat the heat. There’s also a large field right in view of the stand where live music occasionally plays. But while that’s great, the restaurants are really the main focus. From bar-b-que to burgers to bourbon, you can get almost anything you want. That’s not even talking about all the number of pop up stands. But if for some reason want to go shopping before your Braves game, there actually are a few shops for clothing and furniture. As you walk down The Battery it starts to feel less and less like waiting for a baseball game, and more like going through a ginormous outside food court.
So, Suntrust Park obviously knows how to engage their crowd, both inside and outside of the stadium. But is it worth it to get to Suntrust Park early? The answer, obviously, is yes. But while I’ve sung praises of the Battery, I’d suggest not going to the Chop House or Right Field Gates. While they do open 30 minutes earlier, this causes a huge line form almost an hour before game time. So just take your time hanging out in the Battery, and once six o’ clock rolls around, head on down to the 3rd Base and Left Field gates, because they can get through crowds relatively fast.
