Ga State welcomes Power Five team to the former Turner Field

ATLANTA (AP) — When Georgia State moved into the ballpark formerly known as Turner Field, it was hoping for a day such as this.

A Power Five opponent taking the field at the Panthers' house.

North Carolina of the Atlantic Coast Conference will be in Atlanta on Saturday to face Georgia State, a school that launched its football program a dozen years ago.

The Tar Heels (2-0) are the first team from one of college football's major conferences to face the Sun Belt Conference Panthers (0-1) in their stadium.

“It's exciting for our campus,” Georgia State athletic director Charlie Cobb said. “The visibility of a school like North Carolina coming to play at Georgia State, we're excited about it and hope the weather holds. I would expect great energy in the stadium.”

A forecast that calls for a strong chance of rain around the noon kickoff could certainly dampen the occasion. But no matter what the weather brings, the Panthers hope to show they are an athletic program on the rise.

Next week, the school will officially open its new 7,300-seat basketball arena, within sight of what is now known as Center Parc Stadium.

“We're starting to put legs to the idea of what we thought this neighborhood could be and what we thought the repurposing of the stadium could do for this part of downtown,” Cobb said. “To see these plans coming to fruition is incredibly gratifying.”

Georgia State caught a huge break when the Atlanta Braves decided to leave Turner Field — about a mile from the school's downtown campus — after the 2016 season for a new ballpark in the suburbs.

Georgia State purchased the stadium and a huge swath of parking lots. Student housing already has been built and the school plans to construct a small baseball park on the footprint of the Braves' original home,...