Multiple-event facilities can benefit from easy signage changeovers
The Georgia Dome is the perfect example of a facility that must be equipped for many different sports and events. The mission of the Georgia World Congress Center is to ensure that these facilities exist for the primary purpose of promoting and facilitating events and activities that generate economic benefits to the citizens of Georgia and the city of Atlanta, as well as enhance the quality of life for every Georgian.
The vision of the authority is to lead the industry through innovation to operate successfully in an ethical manner, to satisfy their customers’ expectations with motivated, service-oriented employees, and to provide a safe, clean environment.
Owned by the state of Georgia and managed by the Georgia World Congress Center, the Georgia Dome has a capacity of 71,149. It has hosted many of the largest sporting events in the world, including two Super Bowls, the 1996 Centennial Games, the Heritage Bowl, the Peach Bowl, the Pioneer Bowl, and many other internationally acclaimed events.
With the Sweep of a Brush
During preparation for the Chick-fil-A® Peach Bowl, the Panthers vs. Falcons, and the Nokia Sugar Bowl in a span of four days, Georgia Dome’s maintenance crew created and then removed 25 different logos, end zones, and team names. Almost 600 gallons of paint in 31 different colors were applied and then washed out through the system with another 600 gallons of water!
“Our FieldTurf surface allows us to easily convert our facility to accommodate a wide range of important games,” says Carl Adkins, General Manager at the Georgia Dome. “We recently converted the field from the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl to an Atlanta Falcons game and back to the Nokia Sugar Bowl — all nationally televised sellouts — over a period of four days. The state-of-the-art surface allowed us to easily customize the field to meet each of these events’ extensive mid-field and end zone artwork requirements. It has been a huge advantage for our facility.”
The Georgia Dome is one of the more active facilities in the country.
The ability to easily apply and remove paint on the Georgia Dome’s engineered turf system has paid dividends for the events staff. The Georgia Dome crew hosted a multitude of events by customizing the field to the event specifications, from college football, to a National Football League (NFL) game, and then back to college football.
Charles English, the Georgia Dome’s Maintenance Supervisor, says that it is much easier to paint game lines on Field- Turf as opposed to a natural grass surface. “The weight of paint makes natural grass fibers lie down, and on grass, paint would take too long to dry,” he says. “It is easier to paint and convert a field with FieldTurf. There’s no running of colors, and the details come out better. It creates a crisper and sharper line.”
The Falcons tested a number of surfaces before making a decision in 2003. “Our players overwhelmingly supported the FieldTurf surface,” says Dan Reeves, Falcons Executive Vice President. “They liked the traction and the fact that it was softer and faster than some of the other surfaces.”
Hosting Events of Many Stripes
The inner decor of the Georgia Dome has improved since 2003 with the engineered turf system. The flexibility of the complex to host a wide variety of events has also improved. The 2007 NCAA Men’s Final Four will take place at the Georgia Dome in March and April 2007. MegaFest 2006 filled the Georgia Dome with thousands of people of all ages in July 2006.
There are numerous other events planned, including the Falcons’ home games, the Kell Powerade Classic (which features eight of the best Class 5A high school football teams in the state of Georgia), three National Collegiate Athletic Association bowl games, and the Bank of America Atlanta Football Classic.
The Atlanta Falcons share the stadium with everyone else who uses it during the year, which places strenuous demands on the playing surface and the facility. Both have held up extremely well over the years, and the Georgia Dome continues to be one of the premiere sporting venues in the country with many different events already planned for years to come.
