We have our first live look at Mercedes-Benz Stadium’s retractable curtain for Atlanta United matches

Mercedes-Benz Stadium has a lot of bells and whistles, as you’d expect for a $1.5 billion stadium. From the massive halo board to the digital signage throughout, it’s a standard setter for sporting venues not just nationally, but globally.

Much has been made about the stadium being designed with soccer in mind as opposed to building it as a football stadium that a soccer team just happens to play in. One of the touted features that has been brought up a number of times is a retractable curtain system that will be employed to make Atlanta United matches more intimate. We haven’t seen it in action yet as it’s been limited to renderings, but this morning, we got an actual look at it courtesy of club president Darren Eales.

I have to say: this looks really good. I’m sure it will look even better in person. While the curtain will be lifted for two matches (Orlando City on the 16th and the regular season finale against Supporters’ Shield hopefuls Toronto FC on October 22), it looks very well executed and is a great alternative versus simply throwing a tarp over the upper level of seats. High marks to the club for getting this together.