Tech to use 42,500-seat configuration for MBS

When Georgia Tech takes the field at Mercedes-benz Stadium tonight against No. 21 North Carolina, the Yellow Jackets will be playing in front of a packed house of sorts.

Tickets were scarce Friday in part because the game will be played in the stadium’s seating configuration used for Atlanta United games, for which capacity is 42,500. That’s below the full-capacity configuration of 71,000 and

also the capacity of Bobby Dodd Stadium (55,000) but close to what attendance might have been had the game been played on campus.

In its six-year, six-game series at the $1.5 billion stadium, Tech officials have planned to open the stadium for the full configuration for its 2024 game against Notre Dame and the two Chick- fil-a Kickoff games (2022 against Clemson and 2023 against Louisville), which figure to draw better. But for the other games, including today’s, the decision was to use the smaller configuration, in which the upper deck is closed.

“As we were planning from the very early stages, we identified ‘A’ and ‘B’ games,” Senior Associate Athletic Director Jeff Keisler told the AJC on Friday. “The reason why we did that is we didn’t feel like it’s prudent planning to anticipate that, just because we changed the venue, that our attendance for a game like North Carolina, which may average in the high 30s or 40s, would be 72.”

In 2019, Tech averaged 41,931 for its four ACC home games, with North Carolina drawing an announced crowd of 45,044, the largest of the four. Further, like many schools, Tech has experienced an attendance dip this season, with an average of 34,423 attending the games against Northern Illinois and Kennesaw State.

Keisler was hopeful today’s game will sell out, undoubt- edly with help from North Carolina’s sizable alumni base in the Atlanta area.

“Tickets are selling very, very rapidly,” he said.