Georgia State's football team will have a new home at Turner Field very soon. The home of the Atlanta Braves, who are leaving for a new stadium in Cobb County in 2017, will host the Panthers very soon as the school was announced on Monday as the winner of the bidding process for the stadium and surrounding land.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia State and local real estate firm Carter have been awarded the Turner Field lot, with plans of converting the ballpark into a new football stadium.
Along with retrofitting the stadium for football, there are plans for a larger athletics complex, including a baseball stadium, as well as student housing, apartments and retail space. The estimated cost for the Georgia State-Carter plan is $300 million, according to the report.
Georgia State's football team currently plays at the Georgia Dome and will move into the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium when the Dome gets taken down after the 2016 season.
Building an athletics complex closer to campus -- and with an appropriately sized stadium -- is an important step for the Panthers. Outside of football at the Georgia Dome, the rest of Georgia State's teams play at a complex nine miles east of campus that is not easily accessible by many students that live on campus.
The new football stadium would be far smaller than the Georgia Dome, which the Panthers rarely come close to even filling the lower bowl, and would be a more appropriate setting for a fledgling football program.
There's optimism in Atlanta about the Panthers' future in football following the school's first ever bowl appearance this season, and a new stadium will be a good step for the program.
