The mighty wave hasn’t hit, but it’s coming. Georgia fans are about to paint La La Land red. Jeff Dantzler, the astute Athens radio man, estimates that 50,000 citizens of Bulldog Nation will alight in SoCal for the Rose Bowl.
“I know for sure 13,000 are coming,” Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity said Thursday. “That’s our (ticket) allotment. Oklahoma got 13,000. The balance would have to come from StubHub or other allotments, like the bowl committee’s.”
Tickets, believe it or not, aren’t the highest hurdle. The Rose Bowl seats 92,542. Only 26,000 went to the participating schools. There’s no local or semi-local participant in this playoff semifinal – no USC, no Washington – meaning that a West Coast football fan holding tickets might well be inclined to sell. As of this writing, a game ticket could be had for $178 on StubHub, which is, in the grand scheme of sports, not excessive.
The trick is getting here. Within hours of Georgia’s official playoff placement, direct flights to LAX were going for $1,000. From what I’ve gathered, those were gone by nightfall. There are other airports – John Wayne in Orange County, Ontario out in Riverside – but I know two journalists who plan to fly in/out of Las Vegas, which is four hours of desert driving away. And that’s if you can get on anything flying out of Hartsfield-Jackson.
Vince Dooley, who has some pull regarding UGA matters, reported Thursday that his son Daniel “is trying to work something (departing) from Jacksonville. I’m not sure if he’s succeeded.”
Then: “The more I talk to (Georgia) people, the more they have found ways to get out there. Going to Notre Dame wasn't as challenging as this. At first, I heard that people were trying to find ways and having all kind of difficulty, but now I’m hearing that they’re finding ways. They love to travel, in particular to places they’ve never been – and they see it as a once-in-a-lifetime type thing.”
Which it is. Georgia hasn’t graced a Rose Bowl in 75 years. Georgia has never faced Oklahoma. This is Georgia’s first appearance in the College Football Playoff; the BCS and Bowl Alliance and Bowl Coalition all came and went without the Bulldogs being extended an invitation to a championship game. And, as distant as L.A. is, it ain’t Shreveport. Out here they have – borrowing from the most cerebral TV show ever – swimmin’ pools and movie stars.
From Greg Bluestein, the esteemed AJC political writer who was, while a Georgia undergrad, editor of the Red & Black: “Take my network alone. Both my brothers are coming, bringing with them three or four people each. Four of my closest friends are also going, their wives trailing. And I know of about two dozen other folks headed there, off the top of my head.”
From Jake Fromm, the Georgia quarterback: “Just about everybody I’ve talked to is coming. Everybody in my family is coming. You’ll see a lot of Fromms and Haskinses out here.”
Asked how many among his brood are coming, Dooley – who has four children and enough grandchildren “to make a football team with no substitutes” – said: “Half of ’em.” (Presumably including Daniel by way of JAX.)
From Sony Michel, the running back: “I just know that Dawg Nation travels well.”
Some are renting houses an hour from Pasadena. Some are making the long haul over land in RVs. (Hey, the first Rose Bowl trip – December 1942 into January 1943 – saw the Georgia team travel four days each way via train. The world was at war. Flying was restricted.)
One of the proudest moments in Georgia history, which is saying something, came in September, when Bulldog Nation all but took over Notre Dame Stadium. This figures to be much bigger and brassier. This is a playoff game in the Granddaddy of Them All. From Bluestein: “This is definitely a spend-it-if-you’ve-got-it – and for some, even if you don’t – situation.”
For playoff participants, the postseason can last two games: You know the first destination in early December, but you can’t know if there’ll be a second until your team wins the semifinal. For those accustomed to this – Alabama and Clemson folks, say – the temptation would be to wait until a championship date is assured to spend on travel/housing/tickets. That’s not the case with Georgia fans, for two reasons: First, this is new to them; second, the title game will be played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which is 74 miles from Athens.
About that invasion estimate: When you run that number -- 50,000 -- by Georgia insiders, no one laughs it out of court. “So many fans are coming,” said McGarity, who’s not given to exaggeration. “I would think 40,000 would not be unreasonable.”
Said Dantzler, the most ardent Bulldogs fan I’ve met: “I’m the only person I know not going. The Lady Dogs (he’s the voice of women’s basketball) play New Year’s Eve.”
Somebody charter that man a plane. Does Uber have an air force?
About the Author
