When football fans enter Athens High School Stadium late Saturday afternoon to attend the long-awaited “Battle of Limestone” game, they will see a change in the home-side stands.

Golden Eagle fans are being encouraged to “get a piece of the gold” to help finance a $20,000 project that improved the seating and overall look of the stadium.

Athens Stadium was constructed in the early 1970s, when Athens High School moved to a new school on U.S. 31.

“We are really proud the way our gold seats look now,” said Athens High School Principal Chris Bolen. “In the spring we removed all the gold seats and sent them off to be refurbished. They were repainted and sent back to us in June. We painted a big “A” for Athens in black and put it in the middle of the seats. We’ll show the new seats off come Saturday.”

Athens High School has sold all but 161 of the gold seats, Bolen said.

“We had the seats renovated, but we kept the same number,” Bolen said. “We have 575 of them, and many of the people who bought the seats when they first came out still own them today.”

The new seats are $50 each. This includes admission to all regular season varsity home games and free parking. Anyone wishing to buy a gold seat can call the school at 233-6613.

“We paid for the renovation of the seats with money received from seat rentals,” Bolen said. “This was a project sponsored by Athens High School in conjunction with the Athens High Booster Club.”

The gold seats were first sold more than three decades ago to help pay for the stadium.

Bolen said he expects the new gold seats, and all others at the 7,500-seat stadium, to be filled come Saturday night at 7 when the Golden Eagles take on East Limestone — a game that has been anticipated in the city and county for years.

“We expect every seat in the house to be filled and then some,” Bolen said. “I do not plan to turn anyone away as long as they have the $6 they need to get in.”

Bolen said he has received telephone calls this week from people who live at least six hours away from Athens asking about the game.

Some are predicting it could be the largest crowd to ever attend a game at Athens High School.