Construction inspires the GHSA to move state basketball finals from Macon to Georgia State
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
There are regularly murmurs about a move, but they became actual words on Monday, the GHSA’s announcement – after initial reports from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Georgia Public Broadcasting - that it was moving the state high school basketball state championships from Macon to Atlanta.
Georgia State’s convocation center, just up the street from old Fulton County Stadium and Turner Field and in the shadows of I-75 meeting I-20, will be the home to the state finals in 2027 and 2028.
With Macon breaking ground on a new arena in the parking lot of the current Coliseum site, next to the Marriott City Center hotel, the GHSA chose to move for two years because of the loss of a chunk of parking spaces with the construction.
The new arena will be next to the Coliseum, which will remain active and functioning during construction.
Except for a week in March for the next two years.
Contrary to assorted reports, the Georgia State arena seats 7,500 - similar to the Macon Coliseum - for basketball, according to the “quick facts” section on the center’s website, and more than 7,500 for other events.
The center opened in 2022, meaning the Panther basketball teams have played four seasons in it.
The record for a single game is 4,803 when the men played Georgia Tech on Nov. 12, 2022 in the second game in the facility. Last year, the men averaged 1,927 at home, following seasons of 1,367, 2,002, and 1,789 the first year.
With the state tournament coming, workers will have to dust off all the seats at some point, with crowds of 7,000 or more at some point during every week in Macon.
Those big crowds rarely involved metro Atlanta teams or were because of metro Atlanta teams, so it’s questionable how often in two years there’ll be any fire marshal interruptions to close the doors because of capacity being reached.
In Class 5A boys semifinal games last spring with Woodward Academy facing Gainesville and Tri-Cities against Alexander at GSU, neither side of the lower bowl was near filled.
The bigger crowds tend to involve lower-classification teams in general, and there are often matchups pitting such teams familiar with each other who made the trip to Macon.
Southwest’s boys have filled the Coliseum the last two seasons in state championship losses. When Upson-Lee played St. Pius X at Georgia Tech in 2017 and 2018, the Knights dominated the crowd.
There is a multi-level parking deck connected to the convocation center, as well as sizable parking across busy five-lane Fulton Street Southwest.
There are perhaps 50 restaurants within a five-minute drive from the Coliseum, with no collection of such options anywhere near the convocation center, and GSU’s football stadium, the old Turner Field.
As of now, the move appears to be for only two years. Construction on the new Macon complex is expected to be complete in late spring of 2028.
“With Macon currently undergoing construction for its new facility, we felt this was the right time to make the move,” GHSA executive director Tim Scott said in the statement. “We look forward to the progress in Macon and reevaluating our future championship plans after the next two seasons.”