The Southeastern Conference and the Atlanta Falcons made it official this morning, announcing that the SEC Championship football game will be played in the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in downtown Atlanta for 10 years beginning in 2017.
The deal to keep one of Atlanta's signature sports events here long-term was first reported over the weekend by the AJC.
“This is, an understatement to say, an exciting day for the Southeastern Conference,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said at this morning’s formal announcement at the College Football Hall of Fame.
The new agreement calls for the SEC title game to be played in the new Falcons stadium each season from 2017 through 2026, an unusually long contract for such a marquee event.
The game has been played in the Georgia Dome annually since 1994 and will be played there again this year and in 2016. The Dome will be demolished after Mercedes-Benz Stadium, under construction on an adjacent site, opens in 2017.
“We’ve had an incredible run as a conference in the Georgia Dome, and we’re not done yet,” Sankey said. “But this city has proven itself to be forward looking, and that is why I am pleased to be here to announce (this deal).”
Keeping the game in Atlanta long-term, he said, was “a relatively simple decision.”
Falcons owner Arthur Blank credited the amenities of downtown Atlanta, as well as the new stadium, for landing the long-term deal.
“Downtown Atlanta and the uniqueness of this city and this region, I think, brings people here and keeps people here and brings people back continuously,” Blank said. “The stadium, obviously, we think, is the icing on the cake.”
Beyond the 10-year term, the deal provides the option for the SEC to extend it for two successive five-year periods.
Please click here and see Wednesday's Atlanta Journal-Constitution for more on this story.
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