Former Atlanta Olympic Stadium Reopens in August

(ATR) The former Atlanta Olympic Stadium will be reopening in late August as Georgia State University Stadium.

The university will host its first football game of the season against Tennessee State University on Aug. 31 to kick off the latest incarnation of the former Olympic venue. Georgia State will host six games at the stadium this year.

On Dec. 12, 2016 the Board of Regents approved Georgia State's purchase of 38 acres of a 68 acre site which included the stadium and the adjacent parking lot for $22.8 million.

The stadium was known as Turner Field while serving as home to the Atlanta Braves baseball team for the past 20 years. Before that, it was the Centennial Olympic Stadium while being used for athletics and the opening and closing ceremonies of the Atlanta 1996 Games.

The adjacent lot to the stadium was the former location of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, also used as an Olympic venue in 1996. The space will be the site of the university's own baseball stadium, to be built later this year.

Georgia State’s plan to reinvent the stadium includes converting it into a 23,000 seat football facility at a cost of $26 million along with spending another $4 million to re-purpose the stadium's club level for academic use.

The school is still seeking naming rights partners for the stadium.

Written by Courtney Colquitt

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