Tour the new GSU stadium as it nears completion

ATLANTA - From the home of the Braves to the home of the Georgia State Panthers, it has taking a lot of work to change the former Turner Field baseball field to a football stadium.

SKYFOX Drone flew overhead giving a unique perspective of the hard work which went into the process.

Georgia State University said they plan to have it all finished for the Panther's home opener on August 31 against Tennessee State.

The Ted is gone, and in its place is now Georgia State Stadium. It is a $20 million-dollar renovation which condensed it down to a 25,000 seat college football stadium from nearly 50,000 seat Major League Baseball stadium.

“We changed the footprint. We changed from a diamond to a rectangle. We had to change the fans' perspective on the field. To do that, we didn't just build a modified football field inside a baseball diamond, we actually had to disassemble the diamond and create the rectangle for the lower bowl,” said Brian Carroll, Georgia State University.

New stands were built in what would have been right field. They are reusing stadium seats for it. They will also re-use what was Braves Vision, the huge high definition Mitsubishi screen.

They refurbished the suites, which have all sold out for the Panthers first season.

They built new locker rooms for home and away, but they have preserved the old Braves locker room.

Soon the new turf will go down.

Georgia State said it understands the important role it plays as custodian of so much Atlanta sports history. This was the Centennial Olympic Stadium and then the home of the Atlanta Braves, but they also own the old stadium property across the street, where Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's home run record and the university now also owns the 1996 Olympic cauldron.

“And so, we're going to embrace that you may not see all the signage right off the bat, but we're going to keep that going and that's going to be an integral part of this stadium as we continue to grow it,” said Mike Holmes, Georgia State University.

The teams plan is to play scrimmages here by mid-August.