Atlanta: Turner Field

Overview

Turner Field in Atlanta, Georgia is home to the Atlanta Braves of the National League.

This park's story begins in the early 1990s as the city of Atlanta was preparing for the 1996 Olympics. With a capacity of 86,000 Atlanta's Olympic Stadium had been designed so that it could be reconstructed into a baseball season in time for the 1997 season. Replacing Fulton County Stadium, a round stadium of the cookie cutter mold, Turner Field opened in the heart of the retro boom. It was, at least, different.

Turner Field has the typical three level seating structure and a brick exterior, but it is uniquely shaped, for better or for worse, and has an interesting plan that includes a mostly curved outfield wall and an upper deck that does not extend all the way down the left field line.

The park contains nearly 50,000 blue seats, making it one of the largest MLB parks. Then again, when Turner opened the Braves were in one of the most impressive streaks of division titles in history. Attendance has dropped off some in recent years - and even some playoff games have failed to sell out at Turner.

Turner Field is near downtown Atlanta, though it is a hike from the center of the city. The concourses are nearly entirely under the stands, a detriment to this park. Food is traditional, although there is a large plaza with eateries behind the center field scoreboard. That scoreboard "sucks," according to Reds' broadcaster Joe Nuxhall. It is somehwhat incomplete with only one a jumbo-tron and one information board, not two like many other new parks.

In the heat, summer baseball in Atlanta can get pretty horribly uncomfortable, but Turner is by no means a bad stadium. It just isn't a great one.

Worst seat

Left center upper tier of the lower level, Turner Field, Atlanta: Fans in these seats are just low enough to have virtually no aerial perception of the game, and they are so far away from home plate that binoculars do them no good.