(ATR) The Turner Field Stadium has been given a "third- life" according to President Mark Becker of Georgia State University who officially announced its purchase of the area.
The associate vice president for public relations and marketing communication at GSU Andrea Jones tells Around the Rings the plans for expansion will likely be finalized at the Oct. 12 University System of Georgia Board of Regents meeting.
ATR has learned the revamp plans are not official given that theBoard of Regents does not set the agenda until a few days before themeeting, currently leaving its topics unknown.
"Ideas are still up in the air," Jones tells ATR. "Georgia State does not take fullownership of the property until the end of the year."
Turner Field, formerly known as the Centennial Olympic Stadium, was built specifically for the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympic Games and began its construction in 1993. It was at that stadium that the late Muhammad Ali – the first three-time heavy weight champion – lit the Olympic Flame during the Opening Ceremony of the '96 Games. The stadium was converted into Turner Field for the Atlanta Braves shortly after the Games, where the Braves have set an abundance of records.
Becker will now be the first president of a University that will have more Olympic venues than any other University in the world.
The Turner Field Stadium is one of the few venues left standing to commemorate the 1996 Olympics, but its history will not be buried. President Becker mentioned in a recent press conference with the Atlanta Journal Constitution that the bidding process required the winners to honor Atlanta’s sports history and preserve landmarks on site.
Georgia State’s plan to reinvent the Turner Field area includes converting the current stadium into the University's football stadium while adding academic buildings and more student housing in the surrounding complex.
The lot on the site of the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, the location of Hank Aaron's record-breaking 715th home run, is said to also be preserved when Georgia State rebuilds the old stadium into its own.
The current hosts of the stadium - the Atlanta Braves baseball team - will be initiating their move after their last game on Dec. 31 to a stadium about 15 miles away in the city of Smyrna.
Homepage photo: Getty Images
Written by Courtney Colquitt
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