Baseball’s Atlanta Braves are going to be moving to the suburbs in 2017, leaving behind Turner Field in downtown Atlanta in the process. As far as baseball is concerned, I’ll direct you over to our friends at Hardball Talk. I do have an idea for what to do with the baseball stadium that once served as host of the Olympic games though. Why not convert it in to a football stadium? After all, Atlanta loves college football.
The Braves are leaving in part because the stadium needs a number of upgrades to the facility, so a renovation project would be needed regardless. Why not pull out the original blueprints for Centennial Olympic Stadium and reconstruct it to its original form, which would be more ideal for football, and use it as a football stadium? Of course Atlanta already has a football stadium in the Georgia Dome and plans for a new stadium in the works, so this may come off as a silly concept.
And maybe it is, but plenty of baseball stadiums have been converted to host college football games including in San Francisco, New York, Tampa, Chicago and more.
Atlanta is already home to the SEC Championship Game, the Chick-fil-A Bowl and Chick-fil-A Kickoff as well as home games for Georgia State. With a new football stadium that does not figure to change. Could a second football stadium actually make any profit? Would it be possible for Georgia State to use a renovated Turner Field as their home? Could neutral site games be scheduled in the stadium, and maybe even bring additional fan bases to Atlanta for unique college football double-headers between two stadiums?
This is all just thinking out loud, but feel free to serve up your college football ideas for Turner Field and the changing landscape of Atlanta sports if you wish.
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