Centennial Olympic Stadium
The Centennial Olympic Stadium, now known as the Georgia State Stadium, currently hosts college football events, having been in near-constant use since Atlanta 1996.
It may have hosted athletics in 1996, as well as the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, but it never resembled a typical athletics arena. Instead, the seating was shaped with baseball in mind.
As an example of the pre-Games planning with a focus on legacy, the north end of the bowl was built with precast concrete to enable the planned conversion to take place as smoothly as possible. The athletics track itself was pulled up, removed and given, without charge, to the nearby Clark Atlanta University. The free-standing Olympic cauldron was moved to the outside to stand as a public work of art.
Within 12 months of the Games, the stadium’s new tenants, baseball’s Atlanta Braves, took charge of the venue, with a 49,714-capacity (reduced from 85,600 during Games time). Renamed Turner Field – after Ted Turner, the founder of Cable News Network (CNN) whose global headquarters are in the city – the stadium has hosted Major League Baseball (MLB) for almost 20 years.
The Braves remained at the stadium until 2016. At that point, it was renovated, and its capacity was reduced to 25,000 in preparation for use by the Georgia State Panthers, the American football team of Georgia State University. The Panthers continue to play at the venue, which is now known as Center Parc Stadium.