Scheduling North Carolina and Vanderbilt could positively impact several areas of Georgia State’s football program: the fan base, the development of the program and its home conference’s TV negotiations.
The Panthers will host the Tar Heels on Sept. 10, 2022 and the Commodores on Sept. 28, 2024.
Unless scheduling changes occur, they will be the first teams from the Power Five conferences that Georgia State will host in football.
“There’s something exciting about having an ACC or SEC school come and play us here,” senior associate athletic director Doug Justice said. “Doing a home and home with a Power Five is a good draw. Our fan base wants to see games like that. It’s a great thing with our future, where we are going with our program. The goal, hopefully, is to win.”
That excitement is worth the trade of not playing in Nashville, Tenn., or Chapel Hill, N.C. as a guarantee game that could pay Georgia State in the range of $1 million.
Some of that revenue will be made up in what should be increased ticket sales, parking and concessions. In three neutral-site games last season in which the Tar Heels participated the average attendance was 55,532. The team’s four away games had an average of 54,216 and the seven home games an average of 49,643. In six road games last season in which the Commodores participated the average attendance was 63,196. The home games had an average of 32,134.
Commissioner Karl Benson points out that home games against power conferences are also good for the Sun Belt’s TV package with ESPN. Arkansas State’s home game against Missouri attracted the most unique viewers (136,960) and minutes spent (8.1 million) of all the conference’s games on ESPN3 last year.
Justice said the negotiations for the games took about two months and were started before the Panthers secured a berth in the Cure Bowl and before it was announced that Georgia State won the right to negotiate to purchase Turner Field.
The fertile recruiting territory that is Atlanta and Georgia wasn’t discussed during the negotiations, but North Carolina senior associate athletic director Rick Steinbacher, who scheduled the game, said that was one of the factors because it is an important destination. The others were that the metro Atlanta is one of the more populous outside of the state for living alums, alumni association members and members of the Rams Club. Last season’s game at Georgia Tech had an attendance of 50,585, slightly less than the Jackets’ home average of 50,707.
“Georgia State, in the conference they are in and playing at the level they are playing at, going to a bowl game; they are a great opponent for us,” he said.
An email to Vanderbilt sports communications department wasn’t returned.
Georgia State football coach Trent Miles said hosting these games is important to the development of the program.
“Anytime you can play a home and home with a Power Five team, as long as you are competitive and have a chance to win, they are good,” Miles said. “We feel that we will be in a position to compete with anybody by the time those games roll around.”
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