The cheap concessions at Mercedes-Benz Stadium seem to have fueled increased fan spending

When the Falcons announced that the concessions at the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium were going to be much, much cheaper than they are at other venues, there were mixed reactions. I would say the average fan was pretty happy with the prospect of cheap food, soda, and beer, but wary of the rising costs of PSLs and more. Obviously if you were hungry at the shiny new stadium, though, this was pretty good news.

Naturally, no business wildly discounts concessions unless they think they’ll benefit in some way from it. Besides the hurricane of positive press that followed the announcement, it appears the cheap concession prices actually drove people to spend more money than they did at the Georgia Dome. Color me unsurprised by this in the extreme.

Chances are good other teams will follow the Falcons’ model (even though it’s the ownership group for the stadium, not the team, directly setting prices), in the hopes of driving more spending through cheap food. There’s a logic here that isn’t that hard to follow: If people like the concession prices and are happy with their stadium experience, they’re much more likely to spend there.

We’ll see if this holds up in year two, and if the stadium looks less empty during Falcons games once the novel of the stadium has worn off a little bit. Don’t be surprised if other teams suddenly, “graciously” decide to cut back on their concession prices after seeing this, though.