Falcons reveal more information on 2020 options for season ticket holders

ATLANTA - You don’t need me to tell you that everything we’ve done and experienced over the last five months has been, well, different.

No one knows that more than Falcons Vice President of Sales and Service Don Rovak. He’s leading the campaign to inform season ticket members of their game options for a seating plan that will likely fill less than a quarter of actual stadium capacity.

"I’ve never planned for a situation where we’re trying to undersell a building — usually our goal is the other way around," Rovak told FOX 5 Sports.

As promised, the Falcons released some more information Wednesday about options for season ticket members’ game selection process and health and safety measures implemented for the upcoming 2020 season.

While all three levels of Mercedes-Benz Stadium will be utilized, the first seven to 12 rows behind the players' bench will be blocked off from fans.

ATLANTA, GA - AUGUST 04: An overview of the field before the Training Camp on August 4, 2019 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by David John Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

In seats throughout the stadium, fans will sit in rows six feet away from other fans. Aisle seats will not be options in order to prevent multiple exposures for fans going up and down the aisle steps.

There will be “pods” of one to six persons who must arrive together wearing masks.

"Our fans will be wearing masks from the time they leave the car to the time they’re in the building, and the people will be separated once in the venue," Rovak said.

The size of the stadium will work in the Falcons' favor with the initial goal of getting between 10,000 to 20,000 fans in the facility spread out appropriately.

"If we’re doing our job right, we’re filling as much space as possible," Rovak said.

Having said that, season ticket members will have to decide what they want to do. They will be surveyed over the next three weeks to find out which of the scheduled home games they would like to attend and rank them in order of preference. The Falcons will then go through the data they collect and assign fans opportunities to select seats in their price points.

"After we learn which season ticket members want to go to which games, we will do our best to assign as many games as possible. We think there are many fans who are going to want to go to as many games as possible," Rovak said. "We believe that during the course of this season, our members will likely go to two to three games."

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With a season ticket fan base of more than 60,000 and a plan to allow only 10,000 to 20,000 of them in the stadium at one time, something or someone will have to give.

"We’ve had fans that have stated they aren’t interested in going to games, and that’s fine," Rovak said. "We’re pausing their account for this year and freezing their prices for next year, and they’re fine. And then we have other fans who are anxiously awaiting how many games they can go to. We’re expecting a very high ‘take rate’ from our fans right now."

Whether or not season ticket members elect to attend home games during the 2020 season, their contractual season ticket seat locations will be protected for the 2021 season.

"All the decision-making on a business front that we’re making now is really to set us up for our stable fan base really into ’21," Rovak said.

It’s a balancing act. The Falcons organization is looking for ways to protect fans, players and staff, while following NFL and government safety protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For instance, a season ticket holder’s block of four tickets cannot be broken up and sold separately.

"Tickets have to be sold in a block. If a family is selling their block of four, it has to be purchased in a block of four. Can’t sell 2 tickets here and 2 tickets there," Rovak explained. "(We) have to make sure that the people that are enjoying the game are doing so in a safe manner."

Those first four home dates should give the Falcons and the NFL time to assess what their next moves will be regarding the final four home games.