12/21/24
August 29, 2017
Turner Field is Now Georgia State's Football Stadium: The Atlanta facility built as the 85,000-seat Centennial Olympic Stadium for the 1996 Summer Olympics and transformed into the 50,000-seat Atlanta Braves' Turner Field now has a third job. It has been turned into a 24,000-seat football stadium for the Georgia State Panthers that opens Thursday night. "When you realize the iconic nature of this stadium, the history that's in this stadium ... it's a fascinating opportunity for us," said Georgia State AD Charlie Cobb.
I've been to games both in Fulton County Stadium (vs Pittsburgh in ' 96) and in Turner Field (US vs Japan in the'96 Olympics). I doubt I will get to a game at the new park, but I lived less than a mile from where they built it. If anyone wants to remember Fulton County Stadium, the seats are now in use in Nashua, NH's Holman Stadium. They were bought cheaply and used as part of upgrades to Holman.
posted by Howard_T at 09:41 PM on August 29, 2017
The key words: "It survived." It would have been easy to sell the property to a developer, demolish the stadium and build a huge Olympic Tower with commercial space and luxury apartments.
posted by jjzucal at 10:27 AM on August 30, 2017
I applaud the effort to make so much use out of an Olympics stadium when they are normally boondoggles, but the angles in the new football stadium are pretty weird. All the touchdowns in one end are a long way from most fans.
I would like to see a game from home plate, though.
posted by rcade at 10:31 AM on August 30, 2017
As far as the Braves go, most of the "history" took place at Fulton County Stadium.
I can't remember whether Jane Fonda was more famous for falling asleep during Braves games at FCS or Turner Field. That was before the advent of such trifles as Kiss-cam.
If Ted Turner had known back then how much faith the US electorate was willing to place in a celebrity couple that was clearly miserable in each other's presence, he would have run for president.