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Falcons announce new dome will be called Mercedes-Benz Stadium when it opens in 2017

It's a big announcement for a big sponsor, even if the name itself isn't very exciting.

By Dave Choate
Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports

The Falcons held a live special announcement this morning to share the name of their new stadium, which is set to open its doors in 2017.

The team officially announced that Mercedes-Benz would be the stadium sponsor for the previously unnamed dome for the next 27 years. The dome features a spiraling retractable roof, 100 yard bar, and $1.5 billion price tag, and now we know the (predictable) name. There was plenty of speculation last week about the choice of sponsor, given that Mercedes-Benz already has the naming rights to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans through 2021. Today's announcement hasn't clarified the situation, per se, but it's possible the company will elect to remove its name from the Superdome by 2017, or at least shortly thereafter. We'll have to wait to know for certain.

The stadium concept still looks pretty damn cool, if you ask me and Jamal Anderson.

The newly christened dome will be home to the Falcons and the new Atlanta soccer team, and while the Georgia Dome is a perfectly fine stadium, I doubt anyone's going to complain about the upgraded gameday experience. I've seen many fans concerned about the PSLs, however, which is a legitimate concern and may change the composition of the crowd on gamedays. We're still two full years away from the stadium opening, but it's hard not to think about what it may mean for the team and the city right now, and to hope for the best while expecting something less than that.

The stadium's massive price tag made a big-name sponsor inevitable, and while Mercedes-Benz Stadium is pretty generic for a stadium name, it's inoffensive enough. If the company should pull out of New Orleans to do this, they'll earn enough goodwill from fans that I think the name will become a small deal in relatively short order. As long as the Falcons play well on its new field, I'm fine with Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

What do you think of the Mercedes-Benz Falcons stadium name?

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