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2021 Georgia State Football Game Day Program
CENTER PARC CREDIT UNION STADIUM is the home of Georgia State football. The Panthers took over this iconic property, formerly Centennial Olympic Stadium and then Turner Field and venue for Major League Baseball’s Atlanta Braves, for the 2017 season.
The facility was renamed Center Park Credit Union Stadium as part of a 15-year, $21 million agreement between Center Parc Credit Union, a division of Atlanta Postal Credit Union (APCU), and Georgia State Athletics, announced on Aug. 11, 2020.
Center Parc Stadium features 25,000 seats for football, a FieldTurf playing surface on “Pete” Petit Field and dramatic views of the Atlanta skyline. The conversion process incorporated the existing seating areas on the north, west and south sides of the stadium with a new grandstand constructed on the east side, formerly the outfield.
The Panthers enter their fifth season in this impressive venue, which also houses the Football Operations Suite, completed in 2019. All of the program’s day-to-day operations are at Center Parc Stadium, including weight room, meetings rooms, coaches’ offices, athletic training room and equipment room.
Center Parc Stadium was originally constructed as the 85,000-seat Centennial Olympic Stadium and used for the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games, including the Opening and Closing Ceremonies and the track and field competition. Ground was broken on the stadium on July 10, 1993.
Following the Olympic Games, much of the north end of the stadium was removed in the conversion to the 49,000-seat baseball park that served as the home of the Atlanta Braves from 1997 through 2016.
The first baseball game at Turner Field was played on April 4, 1997 as the Braves defeated the Chicago Cubs 5-4. The stadium hosted the National League Division Series a total of 11 times (1997–2005, 2010, 2013) and the NL Championship Series four times (1997–1999, 2001), as well as one World Series (1999), one NL Wild Card Game (2012, the first in baseball history), and the 2000 MLB All-Star Game.
The Braves played their final game at Turner Field, a 1-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers, on Oct. 2, 2016. In November 2016, the Board of Regents approved Georgia State University’s purchase of 38 acres of the 68-acre site for $22.8 million, and the conversion process began in early 2017.
Georgia State opened its new home against Tennessee State before 24,333 fans on Aug. 31, 2017.