Good morning. This is LEADOFF, an early look at Atlanta sports.
It's a matchup that hardly requires more hype: Alabama vs. Florida State, preseason No. 1 vs. preseason No. 3, college football's two winningest programs since 2010.
Or as the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game folks put it: Greatest Opener of All Time. G.O.A.T.
The game marks the first time since the start of the Associated Press preseason poll in 1950 that the No. 1-ranked team and another top-three team have met in the season opener for both.
But just in case you haven’t gotten the message about the magnitude of Saturday night’s game in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, both programs tweeted hype videos this week:
Gary Stokan, president and CEO of Peach Bowl Inc., which operates the Chick-fil-A Kickoff event, said Wednesday he expects about 75,000 people in Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the game. The building's capacity will be increased by deploying about 2,700 retractable seats at the top of the upper deck, according to stadium general manager Scott Jenkins.
The game will be televised on ABC, starting at 8 p.m. Saturday, and will be the stadium's national TV debut. Also, ESPN's College GameDay show will air live from International Plaza outside the stadium, 9 a.m. until noon Saturday.
READ ON ...
200,000 fans for three games over five days will test Mercedes-Benz Stadium
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