So why, exactly, are Georgia and Clemson kicking off so early in the Aflac Kickoff game?
Air conditioning, mainly.
That’s according to Peach Bowl President Gary Stokan, whose outfit organizes the game. Like all games these days, the Aflac Kickoff game is beholden to television, which dictates kickoff times. And Stokan was intimately involved with ESPN as it worked out its Week 1 broadcasting plan.
“ESPN called me and said, first off, ‘you’re in air conditioning, so we can play you any time,’” Stokan shared this week. “… We think it will be cooler – which I disagree with – in the Swamp at 3:30 than it will be at noon. With you being in air conditioning, we’d like you to play at noon.”
That wasn’t the only reason. ESPN/ABC/Disney was carrying two other games Saturday, Notre Dame at Texas A&M (8 p.m.) and Miami at Florida (3:30 p.m.) in Gainesville. ESPN’s “College GameDay” was originating from College Station, Texas, on Saturday, which had as much to do with the Fighting Irish being involved as the magnitude of the game being played there.
“Well, Notre Dame has a contract with NBC, and any time ESPN can get them, they’re going to put them on in prime time,” Stokan said. “Secondly, with the first ‘GameDay’ of the season, that’s going to get a lot of focus and our game should have a big (TV) crowd coming out of that. We think we’re going to have a huge rating with Clemson-Georgia at noon. They want us to lead into Miami-Florida and carry that into Texas A&M-Notre Dame. So, for those reasons, that’s why they put the game on at noon.
“Of course, Fox has proven with their big Saturday games at noon, that that has become a more coveted time slot, especially with ESPN coming out of ‘GameDay.’”
The Big Ten found that its noon games on Fox typically were the most-viewed each Saturday. CBS, which had the SEC up until last year, now has the Big Ten.
There were indications that the noon kick for Clemson-Georgia might have affected ticket sales. Typically, the Aflac Kickoff game has kicked off in the late afternoon or evening, which allows more time for tailgating and certainly for the booking of hotel rooms. But, while ticket prices plummeted to under $100 each in the days leading to Saturday’s game, it was expected to be another solid sellout.
“We had probably 76,000 tickets sold coming into this week and we had to put on sale another 2,800 standing-room-only tickets,” Stokan said. “That’s more than we had for the Georgia-Ohio State (College Football Playoff semifinal) back in 2022-23. So, we’ll be close to the all-time record that we hold over the Super Bowl and SEC Championships in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which is that semifinal game.”
Georgia-Ohio State drew 79,330, which remains the Mercedes-Benz Stadium attendance record.
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