Georgia State University has completed its $30m (€28.3m/£24.4m) purchase of Turner Field, the centrepiece for the 1996 summer Olympic Games in Atlanta.
The academic establishment intends to use the stadium as the new home for its American football team, with the Georgia State Panthers due to begin playing matches at the venue from the 2017 season, which begins in September.
Confirmation of the deal will come as a welcome relief to all parties involved, as the purchase had been due to go through on January 1, one day after the lease held by Major League Baseball team the Atlanta Braves expired on the previous day.
Georgia State maintained that the deal would go through before the end of the week and the university can now push on with work to prepare the facility for the Panthers. The agreement also includes the car parks that surround the main venue.
Keisha Lance Bottoms, executive director of Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority, which managed the sale, said in a statement: “The closing was a process that started before the holidays and ended just after New Year’s Day, achieving the result we have always sought, which is to facilitate the complete sale of Turner Field and its surrounding acreage by the end of the year.
“We have achieved our goal, saving Fulton and Atlanta taxpayers from mothballing or maintaining this massive facility, and put in place a development team that will spark new rounds of development and opportunities for the citizens of Summerhill, Mechanicsville and Peoplestown and all the citizens of Atlanta and Fulton County.”
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