Tech-UGA game won't move to Dome

By Tim Tucker

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

ATHENS – A bid to move the 2011 Georgia-Georgia Tech football game to early September –- and to the Georgia Dome -– has failed.

"A good idea that didn't work out," Atlanta Sports Council president Gary Stokan said Tuesday. "You got to try."

The idea died when Georgia athletics director Damon Evans informed Stokan that UGA had decided against it.

"After careful consideration, we did not think in the final analysis it was in the best interest of our football program," Evans said in a statement Tuesday night.  "I think the most significant factor was that we did not want to . . . make a change in the current home-game rotation with Georgia Tech."

Tech had expressed interest in moving the 2011  game against Georgia, scheduled for late November at Bobby Dodd Stadium, to the season-opening Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game at the Dome, but only if  UGA agreed to play at Tech, rather than in Athens, in 2012.

Stokan said he'll continue to talk with Tech and Georgia about a season-opener in the Dome "in some future year against some opponent," although not against each other.