If you want to see SunTrust Park but don’t have a ticket to Friday night’s exhibition game, Fox Sports South has you covered.
The regional sports network will televise the Braves-Yankees game at 7:30 p.m. and will precede it with a two-hour show, beginning at 5:30 p.m., that tours the new stadium and adjacent mixed-use development.
The show — “Braves Live: Welcome Home” — will re-air following the game on Fox Sports South and nine more times on Fox Sports Southeast before the April 14 regular-season opener in the new stadium.
The show will cover many features of the ballpark and include interviews with Braves players and executives.
Chip Caray and Joe Simpson will be joined by Paul Byrd, Brian Jordan, Jerome Jurenovich and Kelsey Wingert as “tour guides” on the show, Fox Sports said. Caray and Simpson then will call the game.
“First impressions are, it’s absolutely beautiful,” Caray said of the new stadium Thursday.
Starting his 25th season as an MLB broadcaster, Caray said pieces of the stadium are reminiscent to him of many other ballparks: “The evergreen trees in center field, that screams Colorado. The water feature is going to scream Kansas City. The brick work is like Wrigley Field. The green seats are a lot like Minnesota. The footprint of the ballpark and the size of it is a lot like Minnesota. The neighborhood (being built) around it is a lot like Wrigley Field and ultimately what St. Louis will be like.”
Caray also is enthused about the team the Braves will put on the field after back-to-back seasons of 95 and 93 losses.
“I think this team is going to be fun, and I think this team is going to be entertaining,” he said. “I think we’re in a division where there’s a lot of great pitching, so offense may or may not be tough to come by. But I like the lineup; I like the bullpen; I think there’s a lot of depth in the starting rotation.
“Look, the Braves are honest about where they are. I don’t think anyone around major-league baseball is picking this team to win the division, but … we saw what they’re capable of in September. I know the old saying: ‘Don’t believe what you see in March and September.’ But adding Matt Kemp, having Ender Inciarte blossom, seeing Freddie Freeman explode, seeing Julio Teheran pitch better, knowing there’s a wave of talent coming in the months and, if not, short years to come — I think that should have everybody excited, not just about a ballpark but about putting more banners on those light towers.”
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