ATHENS – Georgia will play Western Carolina in football in 2031.
Those were among the revelations from documents UGA released late Wednesday afternoon in response to an open-records request filed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in early March.
The Bulldogs will play the Catamounts on Sept. 6, 2031, in Sanford Stadium. That happens to come on the Saturday between an Aug. 30 season opener on the road at Ohio State and a Sept. 13 home date against the Oklahoma Sooners in Athens.
UGA will pay Western Carolina, an FCS football program, a $650,000 guarantee to play the game, according to the eight-page contract signed by Athletic Director Josh Brooks on March 9, 2021. Georgia will owe the Catamounts the full amount if the game is canceled for any reason not covered under the “force majeure” clause. That clause now includes the terms “epidemic, pandemic or other public health emergency,” which was not previously the case before the last year’s coronavirus pandemic forced game cancellations.
Georgia has played Western Carolina two other times in football. The Bulldogs won 48-0 in 1991 and 45-16 in 2007.
