Last week we got the disappointing news that the highly-anticipated home and home series between FSU and Georgia, scheduled for 2027 and 2028, will not happen. Both teams will now look to fill out their 2027 schedule with a lesser opponent, but the respective athletic directors also teased the possibility of a neutral-site game in 2028.
The likelihood of that neutral-site game happening seems pretty good, according to Mike Griffith from Dawgnation and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was on Paul Finebaum's show and while he mostly spoke from Georgia's point of view, there were a couple of things that stuck out.
"Maybe if you play another Power 4 team every other year in a neutral-site game, which obviously has some financial benefits to it. And in this era of NIL, you're always looking to make an extra buck. You're also looking to prove your conference in non-conference games," Griffith said.
This makes a lot of sense for most teams that can attract the sort of crowds that would be needed for a neutral-site game. Overall, it's a little disappointing. Fans were excited about a stretch of years when both Alabama and Georgia came to Doak. Plus, road trips to Tuscaloosa and Athens are heavenly for fans looking to experience a different college game environment and watch their favorite team.
Sadly, home-and-home series are a dying commodity
Home-and-home scheduling agreements like the one that FSU and Alabama are completing will not be a thing in college football for the future. Every conference is going to a nine-game schedule and in the case of FSU and Georgia, they already have a 10th P4 game on the docket annually.
The way this scheduling issue it going to be worked around is with more one-off neutral-site games. As Griffith points out, it's a great additional source of revenue for programs that need these dollars now and fans generally like it. Ask anyone that went to New Orleans or Orlando for the FSU-LSU two-year series, and they had an amazing time. And FSU isn't new to these games. We can go back to 2007 when the Seminoles played Alabama in Jacksonville or 2014 when they played Oklahoma State in Dallas. There was also 2016 against Ole Miss in Orlando and 2017 against Alabama in Atlanta.
Michael Alford has to try and keep the FSU-Georgia game in Florida
If the Seminoles and Bulldogs decide to play the game in 2028, it will be in one of a few cities. Michael Alford mentioned Atlanta, Charlotte, Orlando, Tampa, Miami, Nashville and New Orleans as cities that have expressed interest. Orlando is always looking for a few neutral-site games to host at Camping World Stadium and Raymond James Stadium in Tampa will be without a college football resident as USF is expected to move into its on-campus stadium in 2027.
Maybe there's a really creative possibility in the works. Could FSU and Georgia play outside the country or maybe at a unique site like the Daytona International Speedway, where they could sell well over 100,000 tickets? Anything is possible. But Alford's goal should be to keep the game in Florida unless there is a large...and I mean large...amount of money to take it elsewhere.
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