SunTrust Park

SunTrust Park is a baseball park located in the Atlanta metropolitan area 10 miles (16 km) northwest of downtown Atlanta in Cumberland/Galleria, Georgia. It is the home ballpark for the Atlanta Braves, the city's Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise. The first regular season game is scheduled for April 14 against the San Diego Padres.Instead of renovating Turner Field, the Braves announced on November 11, 2013, that the franchise would leave after the 2016 season, upon the expiration of its initial 20-year lease there. The Braves' will host a soft opening for season ticket holders on on March 31, 2017. The preseason game will be against the New York Yankees.BackgroundTurner Field had been the home of the Braves since the 1997 season. It was originally built as Centennial Olympic Stadium for the 1996 Summer Olympics, then partially reconstructed as a baseball-only stadium, eliminating the possibility of other sporting event uses, such as track and field. The stadium was owned by the Atlanta-Fulton County Recreation Authority (AFCRA) and leased to the Braves, who had full control over its operations. Turner Field was a relatively new facility, younger than 13 of the other 29 major league stadiums, but there were numerous issues that led the Braves to seek a new ballpark.