GHSA expected to announce return of finals to Mercedes-Benz
The Georgia High School Association is expected to announce Thursday that it is moving the football championship games back to Mercedes-Benz Stadium beginning in 2023.
The GHSA and the Atlanta Falcons are holding a joint media event Thursday at 2 p.m., the association said in a press release issued Tuesday afternoon.
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 championships games have been held at Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium the past four seasons. This year, the eight football and three flag football championships were played over three days ending Saturday.
The finals were held at Mercedes-Benz in 2017 and 2018 and at the Georgia Dome from 2008 to 2016.
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% over the 2021 attendance of 22,631. The average over four years was 27,443.
The eight championships drew 40,462 to Mercedes-Benz in 2018 despite being played over three weekdays to accommodate the Atlanta United soccer team’s playoff match the previous weekend. In 2017, an ice storm forced six of the eight games to be played on high school fields. Attendance at the old Georgia Dome was even higher, surpassing 45,000 each season from 2014 to 2016.
The COVID-19 season of 2020 and weather problems contributed to the attendance decline at Center Parc. The 2022 games were played in good weather for the most part, although the Class 4A final between Benedictine and Cedartown was played in rain that got heavy in the final moments of a 14-13 game decided on a tackle at the 1-yard line on the final play.
The GHSA moved out of Mercedes-Benz and into Center Parc in 2019 largely because of money. The cost to rent Mercedes-Benz Stadium at the time reportedly was around $500,000, or as much as four times the cost Georgia State offered. It can be assumed that concessions have been made.
The Falcons have a history of supporting high school football. The Georgia Dome and later Mercedes-Benz have been the site of Corky Kell Classic opening-week games since 1992. Mercedes-Benz has a wall that features the helmet of every Georgia high school football team, and the Falcons honor a weekly high school coach of the week.