Turner Field: from Olympic Stadium to baseball park and college football venue

Design and characteristics

The facility was conceived as a single, adaptable structure that could be converted from the large-capacity configuration required for an international multi-sport event to the smaller, more intimate bowl of a major league ballpark. Architects and planners incorporated permanent elements for the Olympics and temporary stands that were removed during the conversion for baseball. The reworked venue offered typical amenities of a modern ballpark of its era, including spectator concourses, club and suite spaces, and a playing surface oriented for baseball sightlines. Later modifications again altered seating arrangements and circulation to suit college football.

History and conversion

The site replaced Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium as the city's primary professional baseball facility. After the 1996 Olympic and Paralympic Games, contractors and designers removed or reconfigured large portions of the Olympic seating bowl to create a ballpark scaled for Major League Baseball. The Atlanta Braves moved into the reconfigured stadium in 1997 and used it through the 2016 season. In the mid-2010s the Braves organization and local authorities agreed that a new suburban venue would better serve the franchise, announcing a move to a stadium in Cobb County that was publicly identified at its groundbreaking as SunTrust Park.

Later adaptation and current use

Following the Braves' departure, the arena underwent a second conversion to accommodate college football and campus events for Georgia State University. The redesign included changes to the field orientation, seating sections, and support facilities to meet collegiate requirements. The architecture and construction firm involved in both the post-Olympic and post-MLB conversions played a central role in adapting the structure for successive uses. The site is now used for university home games, community activities, and occasional special events.

Events, legacy and notable facts

• Turner Field began life as Centennial Olympic Stadium and was closely associated with Atlanta's hosting of the 1996 Summer Olympics.
• It served as the Atlanta Braves' home park for two decades and replaced the older Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium.
• After the Braves announced a move to a new stadium in Cobb County, the building was reimagined for college football and campus uses.

The facility illustrates a broader trend in stadium planning: designing for reuse and flexibility so that structures built for a single large event can have viable, long-term second lives. For more information about the teams and institution connected with the site, see the franchise page for the Atlanta Braves and the institutional overview for Georgia State University.