We know Georgia State. It couldn't draw 500 people to the ASun title game when GSU hosted it one year. No one wants to come to downtown Atlanta to support a school in which students have little interest. Check ut the videos of this year's football games in the Dome. Empty. (At least USA and UTSA packed their venues.)

GSU offers litle or nothing in other sports. Bringing the Sun Belt the ATL media market is like saying FIU brings Miami. GSU, like FIU, is an afterthought to the media in those cities.

Current Sun Belt programs near Atlanta (Troy, MTSU, USA, etc.) do not need even more recruiting competition. The Sun Belt does not owe any other school with little to offer to easily step up.

This is a win-win for GSU.

Look at iot this way for the Owls, all these recruits going to Troy and MTSU will now be split or kept by ga. St. so those other two programs up there just got weaker! And Troy already has to deal with S. Alabama. I sure don't mind those two getting hurt recruiting wise any. And we sure as heck don't recruit thet Atlanta scene anyhow so no biggie to us there.

BMarkey said

We know Georgia State. It couldn't draw 500 people to the ASun title game when GSU hosted it one year. No one wants to come to downtown Atlanta to support a school in which students have little interest. Check ut the videos of this year's football games in the Dome. Empty. (At least USA and UTSA packed their venues.)

GSU offers litle or nothing in other sports. Bringing the Sun Belt the ATL media market is like saying FIU brings Miami. GSU, like FIU, is an afterthought to the media in those cities.

Current Sun Belt programs near Atlanta (Troy, MTSU, USA, etc.) do not need even more recruiting competition. The Sun Belt does not owe any other school with little to offer to easily step up.

This is a win-win for GSU.

I went to GSU from 2000-2004 and the students were extremely apathetic towards any athletic endeavors by GSU, but in the past 3 years things have really started to turn around and will continue to do so, partly in thanks to a new president, AD, and the addition of football.  I know why some of you are skeptical, but the change is coming and it is coming fast.  The main messageboard for GSU is www.panthertalk.com if you wanna see catch updates of GSU Athletics.

Haha, well you're really killing my "brightside" attempts BMARKEY.  Which is fair enough, it takes some selling.  Here are some selling points of Georgia State IMO.  If you take the time to read thier "resume" it sure looks like it has a ton of promise.  50,000 students x $263 in athletic fees =  :o :o :o

To cope with changes in its student population, the fastest growing one in the University System of Georgia, Georgia State is pursuing increased expansion through the potential acquisition or construction of buildings in the downtown Atlanta area.

Georgia State University charges a fee to each student that enrolls at the school (called the "Athletic Fee"). The fee is currently $263 and is charged every semester along with other academic fees. This fee is used for athletic scholarships and other costs associated with competitive athletics. The athletic fee allows students to use their Panther Card (Student Identification Card) for free access to athletic events.

Georgia State University (GSU) is a research university in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Founded in 1913, it serves about 30,000[2] students and is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities. Georgia State is the second largest of the 35 colleges and universities in the University System of Georgia.[/li]

In 2006, the University announced a $1 billion campus expansion that will add over a dozen new buildings, including a new convocation center, science research park, new buildings for the schools of business and law, a new humanities building, and an expanded student recreation center. Streetscape improvements are also included, such as improvements to Decatur Street and Piedmont Avenue, and dropping raised walkways to street level. Sparks and Kell Halls will be torn down, with Sparks being torn down first to make way for the new humanities building. Many projects are already underway, with a $20 million refurbishment to the Pullen Library complex completed during the 2006-07 school year

By 2015, the university is expected to need about 1 million additional square feet of classroom, laboratory and other academic space for a total of 50,000 students, 36,000 of whom will attend full time.

For much of its history, Georgia State was a commuter school with no on-campus or university-owned housing. After the 1996 Summer Olympics were held in Atlanta, Georgia State acquired the 2,000-bed Olympic Village housing complex located at the southeast corner of Centennial Olympic Park Drive (formerly Techwood Drive) and North Avenue that was used to board Olympic athletes during the Games. In August 2002, the 450-bed University Lofts opened at the corner of Edgewood Avenue and Courtland Street on the northeast side of campus as housing for graduate students, undergraduates over the age of twenty-one, and honors students. As of Spring 2011, Georgia State's housing system has a capacity of approximately 3300 beds.


Most recently, following its plan for expansion, Georgia State acquired two hotels in downtown Atlanta, the Wyndham Garden Hotel and Baymont Inn and Suites on Piedmont Avenue. The hotels and grounds have been renovated and changed into dorms, Piedmont North Buildings A and B, contributing to the university's transformation into a 24/7 community in the heart of the city.[11] The complex now includes living and study space for nearly 1,000 students, as well as greenspace, recreational areas, and a brand new 12,000-square-foot (1,100 m2) dining hall, the Piedmont North Dining Hall.

On April 17, 2008, Georgia State officially announced that Panthers would play Division I FCS college football starting in 2010. The school would compete in the Colonial Athletic Association, with home games at the 71,228 seat Georgia Dome; the school has built a practice field and training facilities, both a few blocks away from campus.[15][16] On June 12, 2008, Georgia State announced that Bill Curry would become the University's first head football coach.[17] Georgia State earned a 41-7 victory against Shorter University in its inaugural game on September 2, 2010, with 30,237 fans in attendance, which surpassed the university's estimate of 25,000.[18] On April 9, 2012, GSU joined the 12-member Sun Belt Conference.