ABSTRACT

Atlanta’s bid for the 1996 Summer Games was inspired by the success of the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Most of the funding would come through sponsorship and TV rights, although in the event massive injections of public money were needed to finance essential infrastructure improvements.

for the first time a specific Olympic legacy use was predetermined at the design stage. After the Games the new 85,000-seat stadium would be swiftly converted into a standard baseball park, without the compromises that had marred earlier attempts at post-Games conversions. A distinctively asymmetric layout was adopted, utilizing precast concrete construction to facilitate the transformation. There were also specific provisions for special effects during the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

Immediately following the closure of the subsequent Paralympic Games in August sections of the northern end seating were dismantled and the running track removed. Spectator capacity was reduced to 47,000. What was renamed the Turner Field functioned well as a baseball park: unfortunately its city centre location inhibited spectators, and the baseball team moved to a new stadium on the edge of the city in 2016. Now renamed the Georgia State Stadium, it hosts the Georgia State University American football team.