Georgia adds Florida Atlantic to 2012 football schedule — at cost of $1 million
Georgia will pay Florida Atlantic $1 million to play a 2012 football game in Sanford Stadium – the most UGA has ever agreed to pay an opponent for coming to Athens.
The game will be played on Sept. 15, 2012, replacing an originally scheduled game at Louisville on that date. A two-game, home-and-home contract with Louisville was canceled as part of Georgia’s arrangement to play Boise State in the 2011 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in Atlanta.
Georgia and Florida Atlantic last week signed a memorandum of understanding on the 2012 game. The document was obtained Tuesday by the AJC under an open-records request.
Florida Atlantic is an FBS (formerly known as Division I-A) team and a member of the Sun Belt Conference. The Owls are 4-7 this season and are coached by 76-year-old Howard Schnellenberger, who was Miami’s coach when Mark Richt, now Georgia’s coach, played quarterback for the Hurricanes.
The $1 million payout has become about the going rate for non-conference FBS opponents who do not require a return visit to their stadium. The most Georgia had agreed to pay previously was $975,000 to Buffalo for a 2012 game and North Texas for a 2013 game.
The agreement between Georgia and Florida Atlantic calls for the Owls to receive 300 complimentary tickets and another 3,000 tickets to purchase and states that there will be a $1 million game cancellation fee.
Florida Atlantic’s non-conference games this season have included a 30-17 loss to Michigan State in Detroit and a 51-17 loss at Texas.
Georgia now has seven home games scheduled in 2012. The Bulldogs’ other non-conference opponents that season, all in Athens, are Buffalo, Georgia Southern and Georgia Tech.
Today’s other posts:
Richt tells callers he’s staying and wants ‘Dream Team’ recruits to join him.
Murray matches a Shockley record; Richt vs. O’Leary in Liberty Bowl?
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223 comments Add your comment
wagon
December 1st, 2010
10:33 pm
when is uga going to play west georgia……
Richie_Rich86
December 1st, 2010
10:34 pm
DWDY,
You moron. The SEC makes out the SEC schedule not the schools you fool! It’s really embarrassing seeing Georgia fans calling this dumb. DWDY, are you really that clueless?
Pago Pago Dawg
December 1st, 2010
11:04 pm
We agree that UGA should keep the money in state. Michigan and Michigan State each play a MAC team from Michigan and Ohio State always plays a MAC team from Ohio. Keep the money local….
No shame in Athens, and that's a shame
December 1st, 2010
11:37 pm
Think about the football team THUGA puts on the field. 96% of the players are academically provisionally accepted, with Adams and his cronies knowing full well that they will use up all their coaching and tutors and elligibility and then have their asses kicked out on the street and soon be pushing grocery carts around Atlanta looking for a warm place to sleep. What a pitiful way to run the State’s flagship university.
THWG!
December 2nd, 2010
4:36 am
Wow, you gotta pay those slop teams to come to that cesspool of yours, now do ya?
You school is weak athletically, academically, and pretty much the bane of the SEC.
Don’t worry, at least you fans didn’t actually go to school there, so there’s not much invested on your part.
The Morning After: December 2, 2010 « The Victory Formation
December 2nd, 2010
6:32 am
[...] Georgia will pay Florida Atlantic $1 million for a home game in 2012. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) [...]
TechRedNeck
December 2nd, 2010
10:27 am
Some sportswriters are like Liberals. Everyone who agrees with them gets posted.
War Damn Eagle
December 2nd, 2010
10:35 am
It’s common knowledge that UGA players are thugs and arseholes, with few of them even able to read. Only a scumbag cesspool like UGA would even consider playing these thugs.
collegedude
December 2nd, 2010
12:05 pm
This blows. We take UF’s cowardly scheduling and incorporate it at UGA. We will get more easy W’s, but not better football. Ticket prices will increase & the quality of games will decrease. Very sad day for UGA football IMO.
Reality
December 2nd, 2010
12:31 pm
Why didn’t uga schedule GA State instead? Keep the money in-state. Play a local team (less travel).
Seems like a win-win….
DawginLex
December 2nd, 2010
3:01 pm
War dumb eagle,
Only a moron would criticize UGA considering what is going on at Auburn.
It ain’t over.
The investigation is continuing.
The NCAA won’t rest until the truth is discovered
Cecil Newton still preaching?
You must attend there.
Sierra Baker
December 2nd, 2010
7:31 pm
“Georgia now has seven home games scheduled in 2012. The Bulldogs’ other non-conference opponents that season, all in Athens, are Buffalo, Georgia Southern and Georgia Tech.”
All four of Georgia’s 2012 non-conference opponents are patsies. (Yeah Tech fans 2/3, 9/1, 16/20 means you’re Georgia’s patsy too.) Well, Georgia Southern DOES have a tradition of doing well in their own division but not so well in 1A (FBS). So, three of Georgia’s non-conference opponents are patsies and the fourth, Georgia Southern, is simply outgunned.
Sierra Baker
December 2nd, 2010
7:32 pm
ooops. That would be 9/10
Pope UGA XXIII
December 2nd, 2010
9:21 pm
Georgia Southern is actually a huge draw and in 2008, there were
over 100000 requests for tix. The two schools play every 4 years in
Athens and I applaud both schools for doing this.
Seems like Boise State returns 17 starters in 2011, so the folks who
feel this will be a rout are kidding themselves.
Florida Atlantic is far superior to Charleston Southern, but as a 40
year season ticket holder, I’m not keen on loading the UGA schedule
with games like this. There are more than a few teams who would
probably still be willing to come to Athens on a “one & done” or even
a “two for one” deal.
Southern Miss, East Carolina, UCF, Houston, SMU, and UAB are
a few that come to mind quickly.
Fushino
December 3rd, 2010
12:05 am
FAU isn’t as lame as many of you may think. Still not close to major BCS conferences by any stretch, but FAU is better (in the long run) that most of the MAC and Conference USA. FAU had a down year this season, but we are the fastest growing football program in the nation. Only had football since 2001, got as high as #4 in the nation in Div 1AA and moved up to Div 1A in 2005. Fastest to beat a Div 1A team, fastest to get to a bowl game, fastest to win a bowl game, our coach has the best undefeated bowl streak in the NCAA at 6-0 and one of those was a national title for the Miami Hurricanes. We’ve won two bowl games and one was over Conference USA and the other was over MAC. FAU moves into their 70 million dollar on campus stadium next season and recruiting in the South Florida hot bed will only get better. FAU will never compare to a football program like UGA, but FAU should not be thought of as any less than Conference USA, MAC or especially Div 1AA (or what ever they call it now). FAU is getting bigger and better every year and they will not likely be in the Sun Belt for too much longer.
FAU! HOOT! …and GO DAWGS!
big dawhg
December 3rd, 2010
10:40 am
man the EMS is going to have to be on the field for this one……someone is going to get taken out on a stretcher…..
Dawg Fud
December 3rd, 2010
11:23 am
Totally LAME
joe
December 5th, 2010
1:33 am
just so yal know..georgia has lost to oklahoma state, colorado, and NEARLY to colorado again and arizona state at home. this is what happens when we schedule tough OOC games. you give us cakewalks for those games..georgia has a nine win season in 09 and seven wins this year and has a WHOLE lot less fire under his seat. and i’m not counting tech because that’s an annual game
joe
December 5th, 2010
1:38 am
And war damn eagle…
so that’s why Georgia’s acceptance rate is way lower then Auburns
so that’s why Georgia’s freshman have a higher SAT average
so that’s why Georgia had a rhode scholar this year
yeahh..pretty sure the people from the Classic City aren’t the dumb ones here
also, you have the biggest thug in the SEC in Nick Fairley
BibbDawg
December 5th, 2010
3:58 am
These 2 patsy OOC games each year should be counted as exactly what they are–exhibition games. If they are going to play these exhibition games they should schedule them as the first two games, then start the regular season after them–similar to the NFL. There is no way these exhibition games should count in the team’s nor the head coach’s record.
Morris
December 5th, 2010
3:12 pm
This is a story?
Ted MIchael Morgan
December 5th, 2010
3:36 pm
This is disgraceful. Who really wants to see games like that?
Though seeing Georgia face Boise State next season delights me; the long term decision of Georgia to avoid great teams from out-of-region is deplorable. Lets play interesting teams–real teams in games worth watching.
T'VILLE DAWG
December 5th, 2010
8:48 pm
What most of you kindrgarten genuises don’t understand is that when the NCAA expanded the season to 12 games in Div. 1 it left a lot of scrambling just to find another opponent with an open schedule date, remembering that every other team out there needs that twelfth game too. So now you have must be hundreds of schools looking for no. 12. On the other hand these smaller schools get a tremendous economic boost to their athletic dept. for their trouble, and some of these schools probably don’t have half a mill to work with any way. Its a win win, they get to break in rookies too.