With the doors closing on the Georgia Dome in Atlanta for good, Georgia State’s football program is ready to get started on their very own home field at Turner Field in 2017. The Panthers will kick off the 2017 season at Turner Field against Tennessee state on August 31. The stadium will also have a new name; Georgia State Stadium.
As soon as word broke from the Atlanta Braves that the MLB franchise was going to move to a new location, Georgia State pounce don the opportunity to claim the land holding Turner Field. Knowing the Georgia Dome was going to be abandoned by the Atlanta Falcons (who move into a brand new stadium this year), Georgia State needed to secure a place to play their home games, and getting a chance to have their own stadium all to themselves was highly sought after by the university.
While Georgia State will play its home games in the former home of the Braves, the plan moving forward will be to overhaul the entire venue by making it more fan friendly and better serve the Georgia State football program. For starters, the stadium’s capacity will be reduced from 50,000 for baseball to 23,000 for the football program.
The converted football stadium will also be accompanied by other facilities for the university including shops and residential complexes as part of a university and community effort to develop.
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