The Georgia High School Association (GHSA) announced on Dec. 15 that it is moving the football state title games back to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2023.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Todd Holcomb was the first to break the news.
According to Holcomb of the AJC, “GHSA executive director Robin Hines said in October that he was negotiating with the Falcons to move the games to the Falcons’ home stadium, but he hasn’t spoken publicly on the matter since and had no comment Tuesday.”
The football state championship games have been played at Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium since 2018. There were eleven games played this past week from Thursday to Saturday at Center Parc Stadium. Eight football and three flag football contests were held.
The GHSA played its state championship football games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta from 2017-18. They were previously held at the former Georgia Dome from 2008-16.
“Attendance at the open-air Center Parc Stadium has been below the standards of the indoor stadiums, but peaked last week at 34,653, up more than 50 percent over the 2021 attendance of 22,631,” Holcomb stated on Tuesday. “The average over four years was 27,443.”
Per Holcomb, the eight championships played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium totaled a crowd of 40,542, despite the games being moved to the weekdays due to the Atlanta United soccer team’s playoff match being played when the football contests were originally scheduled.
The GHSA moved out of Mercedes-Benz and into Center park Stadium in 2019 due to money. Falcons’ owner Arthur Blank charged around $500,000 to rent out Mercedes-Benz, which is “four times the cost Georgia State offered,” according to Holcomb.