The Falcons are giving away free hot dogs, chips and a refillable souvenir cup to anyone attending … [+]
If you like free food and football, Sunday night’s Kansas City Chiefs at Atlanta Falcons game is the place to be.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the home stadium of the Falcons, will give away free hot dogs, chips and a refillable souvenir cup for Coke products to every fan in attendance.
It’s a mind-boggling giveaway.
“I haven’t seen it anywhere in an NFL stadium — never mind any major sports stadium — to this capacity,” Greg Forzley, vice president of hospitality strategy at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, exclusively shared.
Through the end of the third quarter of the Sunday Night Football game, each fan can get two hot dogs and two bags of chips per visit.
But they are not limited to that. They can go to the concessions as much as possible for these free items.
“If you wanted to come up 10 times and be a hot dog eating champion,” Forzley said, “you could.”
During a typical Falcons game, 8,000 to 10,000 hot dogs are sold, but the Falcons are producing 100,000 hot dogs for Sunday night.
Honoring Arthur Blank
The reason for this massive giveaway is the Falcons will be celebrating owner Arthur M. Blank’s induction into the team’s Ring of Honor.
Levy restaurants, which supplies food for the NFL stadiums of the Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Las Vegas Raiders, San Francisco 49ers, Washington Commanders, Carolina Panthers, Seattle Seahawks, Tennessee Titans, Baltimore Ravens, Chiefs and Falcons, wanted to honor Blank because he spearheaded a unique pricing strategy upon the opening of Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2017.
“We tried the concept called ‘street pricing,’” Falcons CEO Rich McKay said. “The object was to try and resemble more what it would look like on the outside as opposed to just what it would look like on the inside of the stadium, where it could be marked up.”
Though hot dogs are the signature food, other affordably priced items on the Fan First menu include $2 refillable Coca-Colas, $2 popcorn, $2 pretzels, $3 nachos with cheese, $3 pizza slices, $3 waffle fries, $3 Dasani water bottles, $5 cheeseburgers and $5 Bud Lights.
Those prices not only apply before and for the entire duration of Falcons games, but also to any event at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, including Atlanta United FC, college football games (like Georgia vs. Clemson) and concerts.
Last year Mercedes-Benz Stadium sold 217,187 hot dogs, including 82,633 at Falcons games.
Logistics for the Giveaway
The Falcons arrived at the 100,000 hot dog number for Sunday — along with 100,000 bags of chips and 95,000 commemorative cups, which will be handed out upon entry to the stadium — through analyzing data from a $1 Dodger Dog Night at Dodger Stadium in 2018.
They accounted for the fact that each Dodger Dog was discounted from $10 and that each fan in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ stadium had an average of two hot dogs that evening.
To ramp up for the extra consumption, the Falcons have added 70 cooks — giving them 370 — and about 100 front-of-house staff for Sunday’s game.
“Because of this being a lot more demand than a typical gameday,” said Matt Cooper, senior executive chef at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, “we had to build an outdoor location just to cook hot dogs.”
All four levels of the 72,000-seat stadium added a total of 20 production locations and 38 distribution locations.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium already had affordable food. Clearly, it has taken it one step further.
It’s a response to market research the Falcons conducted prior to opening Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The resounding complaint from fans at their old Georgia Dome was the high cost of food.
Many families said they previously had to eat before going to games because the in-stadium prices were so high.
“That made no sense,” McKay said. “We certainly should have an environment, where the kids can have something to eat.”
On Sunday night kids — and adults alike — can eat for free.
