C
Creg Stephenson |
Neutral-site kickoff games in college football appear to be here to stay, and no one knows that better than Chick-fil-A Bowl president and CEO Gary Stokan.
Stokan is on-hand at SEC Media Days in Hoover this week, talking up this season's Chick-fil-A College Football Kickoff Game Sept. 2 between Alabama and Florida State at the new Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta. It will be the Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide's fifth season-opening appearance in Atlanta in 10 years, after also playing in the inaugural Chick-fil-A Kickoff against Clemson in 2008, followed by meetings with Virginia Tech in 2009 and 2013 and West Virginia in 2014.
Florida State is in the game for the first time, after Stokan said he had to do some convincing of Seminoles coach Jimbo Fisher. Stokan said Fisher wanted to wait a few years until he got his program up and running at full strength.
"We had Nick Saban sold in 2008 when they came in and beat Clemson," Stokan said during an appearance on "Sports Drive" on WNSP-FM 105.5 in Mobile. "That's really the launch of their run, that started it. Then we had them again the next year against Virginia Tech. ... On the Florida State said, Jimbo took the job in (2010). I asked him to play in the game, and he said 'I'd love to, but not right now. Let me get my program in place and my recruits here and we'll do it then.' So fast-forward 3-4 years we were able to do it."
New Atlanta stadium 'ready' to welcome Alabama
The Mercedes-Benz Stadium is set to open Aug. 26 — one week before Alabama faces Florida State in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in Atlanta.
As Stokan noted, Fisher and Saban are old friends, with Fisher having served as Saban's offensive coordinator at LSU last decade. And it's possible the Crimson Tide and Seminoles could be ranked atop the national polls by the time Sept. 2 rolls around.
"You never know whether a coach wants to play a friend," Stokan said. "And they were on the staff together at LSU, won a national championship. They're both from West Virginia. I give those guys all the credit for wanting to have their teams compete at the highest level against the highest level competition. So we were able to put it all together (for) 2017, but we didn't know they'd be No. 1 and No. 2. But here we are."
Non-conference neutral site games such as Alabama-Florida State, Florida-Michigan (in Arlington, Texas, Sept. 2) and Tennessee-Georgia Tech (Sept. 4 in Atlanta) come at the expense of true home-and-home contests that used to be far more common in college football. Though we still see the likes of Notre Dame-USC each year and will see Oklahoma at Ohio State, Georgia at Notre Dame and Auburn at Clemson this year, more and more programs are eschewing home-and-home series in favor of neutral site games.
Stokan said there's a simple reason for that -- both teams get a huge payday in neutral site games, whereas only the home team does in a home-and-home. On top of that, there's also a recruiting incentive.
"I believe that college football should keep its intersectional rivalries, should keep its home-and-home," Stokan said. "But on the other side, if you're looking at potentially getting into an area where you want to recruit, where your alumni are, where a financial windfall can take place. In the case of the ACC and the SEC it works because you have four conference games at home, with four non-conference games to schedule. They build their budget on seven home games, so as long as you can schedule seven home games, you've made your budget. Now you've got one game to schedule. And if you can schedule it in Atlanta and make $5 million, where you net $3 million for a home game, that $2 million is a win. For your recruiting base, coming to Atlanta is a win. Playing in front of 30,000 of your fans is a win. So there's no real down side.
"It's harder to do home-and-home, because when you play the away game part of that, you don't make any money. So if you can do like Nick Saban has done and go neutral-neutral, $5 million one year and $4 million the next year, that's $5-6 million more than you would have made playing a home-and-home. Do I believe in home-and-home? Most definitely. That's how college football was built. But when you get an opportunity to play in one of these neutral site games and get a financial and recruiting windfall and where your alumni are, I think it makes sense."
You can hear the full Gary Stokan interview HERE.
Stokan is on-hand at SEC Media Days in Hoover this week, talking up this season's Chick-fil-A College Football Kickoff Game Sept. 2 between Alabama and Florida State at the new Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta. It will be the Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide's fifth season-opening appearance in Atlanta in 10 years, after also playing in the inaugural Chick-fil-A Kickoff against Clemson in 2008, followed by meetings with Virginia Tech in 2009 and 2013 and West Virginia in 2014.
Florida State is in the game for the first time, after Stokan said he had to do some convincing of Seminoles coach Jimbo Fisher. Stokan said Fisher wanted to wait a few years until he got his program up and running at full strength.
"We had Nick Saban sold in 2008 when they came in and beat Clemson," Stokan said during an appearance on "Sports Drive" on WNSP-FM 105.5 in Mobile. "That's really the launch of their run, that started it. Then we had them again the next year against Virginia Tech. ... On the Florida State said, Jimbo took the job in (2010). I asked him to play in the game, and he said 'I'd love to, but not right now. Let me get my program in place and my recruits here and we'll do it then.' So fast-forward 3-4 years we were able to do it."
New Atlanta stadium 'ready' to welcome Alabama
The Mercedes-Benz Stadium is set to open Aug. 26 — one week before Alabama faces Florida State in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in Atlanta.
As Stokan noted, Fisher and Saban are old friends, with Fisher having served as Saban's offensive coordinator at LSU last decade. And it's possible the Crimson Tide and Seminoles could be ranked atop the national polls by the time Sept. 2 rolls around.
"You never know whether a coach wants to play a friend," Stokan said. "And they were on the staff together at LSU, won a national championship. They're both from West Virginia. I give those guys all the credit for wanting to have their teams compete at the highest level against the highest level competition. So we were able to put it all together (for) 2017, but we didn't know they'd be No. 1 and No. 2. But here we are."
Non-conference neutral site games such as Alabama-Florida State, Florida-Michigan (in Arlington, Texas, Sept. 2) and Tennessee-Georgia Tech (Sept. 4 in Atlanta) come at the expense of true home-and-home contests that used to be far more common in college football. Though we still see the likes of Notre Dame-USC each year and will see Oklahoma at Ohio State, Georgia at Notre Dame and Auburn at Clemson this year, more and more programs are eschewing home-and-home series in favor of neutral site games.
Stokan said there's a simple reason for that -- both teams get a huge payday in neutral site games, whereas only the home team does in a home-and-home. On top of that, there's also a recruiting incentive.
"I believe that college football should keep its intersectional rivalries, should keep its home-and-home," Stokan said. "But on the other side, if you're looking at potentially getting into an area where you want to recruit, where your alumni are, where a financial windfall can take place. In the case of the ACC and the SEC it works because you have four conference games at home, with four non-conference games to schedule. They build their budget on seven home games, so as long as you can schedule seven home games, you've made your budget. Now you've got one game to schedule. And if you can schedule it in Atlanta and make $5 million, where you net $3 million for a home game, that $2 million is a win. For your recruiting base, coming to Atlanta is a win. Playing in front of 30,000 of your fans is a win. So there's no real down side.
"It's harder to do home-and-home, because when you play the away game part of that, you don't make any money. So if you can do like Nick Saban has done and go neutral-neutral, $5 million one year and $4 million the next year, that's $5-6 million more than you would have made playing a home-and-home. Do I believe in home-and-home? Most definitely. That's how college football was built. But when you get an opportunity to play in one of these neutral site games and get a financial and recruiting windfall and where your alumni are, I think it makes sense."
You can hear the full Gary Stokan interview HERE.
