Stokan's pitch for Tech-Georgia game

By Tim Tucker

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Part of the pitch to Georgia and Georgia Tech about moving their 2011 football game to the start of the season – and to the Georgia Dome – is that the event would coincide with the first College Football Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremonies in Atlanta.

Gary Stokan, the Atlanta Sports Council president who heads the Chick-fil-A College Kickoff Game as well as the Hall's relocation here, said the convergence of the two events will focus increased attention on the 2011 game.

"The enshrinement will take that game to another level in exposure," Stokan said Thursday. "I think that makes sense for Georgia and Georgia Tech."

Although the Hall of Fame museum isn't scheduled to open in Atlanta until 2012, Stokan said the enshrinement ceremonies will be held here annually beginning in 2011. The plan is to schedule the festivities the same weekend each year as the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game, he said.

Stokan said the enshrinement is one of several reasons he outlined to Tech and Georgia for playing at the Dome on a "one-time-only" basis on Sept. 3, 2011. All parties characterize the discussions as exploratory and say nothing has been decided.

Among other factors Stokan cited in meetings with Tech athletics director Dan Radakovich and Georgia AD Damon Evans were finances  (a payday of at least $2.3 million per team), TV exposure (a prime-time telecast on ESPN) and various scheduling benefits.

Stokan said the matchup would work only if neither team has to give up a home game. He proposes that the rivals suspend their alternating home-and-away schedule for one year after the 2010 game at UGA by playing at the Dome in 2011 and then resuming their regular rotation at Tech in 2012.

That would have the effect, which appeals to Tech, of shifting the Jackets' home games against Georgia from odd-numbered to even-numbered years. Such a shift would break the current cycle that has Tech's three most marketable home games -- vs. Georgia, Clemson and Virginia Tech -- falling in the same years.

Stokan also argued that an early-season Tech-Georgia game, as opposed to the traditional post-Thanksgiving meeting, would have the dual benefit of vaulting the winner in the polls and giving the loser plenty of time to recover in the BCS picture.

Stokan on Thursday echoed earlier comments by Radakovich and Evans that talks have been strictly preliminary.

"There has been nothing done beyond me meeting with them and giving them my reasoning why it could be a win-win," Stokan said. He said both schools indicated they'll have internal discussions before deciding whether to pursue the possibility further.

Opponents have been lined up for Atlanta's 2010 and 2012 Kickoff Games: LSU vs. North Carolina and Tennessee vs. N.C. State, respectively.