What They’re Saying | Frequently Asked Questions | Press Conference Video | Press Conference Audio
THE FLATS – Georgia Tech athletics, AMB Sports & Entertainment and Peach Bowl, Inc. have entered a partnership that will have Georgia Tech football play an annual home game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium from 2020-24, the organizations announced on Tuesday.
Georgia Tech will host the following games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the home of the National Football League’s Atlanta Falcons:
2020 – Nov. 14 vs. Notre Dame
2021 – Date/opponent TBA
2022 – Sept. 5 (Labor Day) vs. Clemson – Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game
2023 – Date opponent/TBA
2024 – Oct. 19 vs. Notre Dame
All five games will be included in Georgia Tech’s season-ticket packages and GT season-ticket members will have priority access to preferred seating options (including premium seating), as well as parking. As an immediate benefit to Yellow Jackets fans, all 2019 Georgia Tech football season-ticket members will have priority to lower-level seats for the 2020 game versus Notre Dame (2019 Georgia Tech season tickets start at just $219 for seven home games – click HERE for more information and to purchase online).
Located less than one mile from Georgia Tech’s Midtown Atlanta campus, Mercedes-Benz Stadium opened in 2017 and is one of the world’s most premier sports venues. In addition to being home of the Falcons and the 2018 Major League Soccer champion Atlanta United, Mercedes-Benz Stadium also hosted Super Bowl LIII and the 2018 College Football Playoff championship game and will be the site of the 2020 NCAA Final Four (with Georgia Tech serving as the host institution).
VIDEO: Georgia Tech/Mercedes-Benz Stadium/Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game Press Conference
.@AndyDemetra caught up with @CoachCollins at @MBStadium to discuss today’s announcement 🐝🏈#ATL #TogetherWeSwarm pic.twitter.com/mKQewDSRtV
— Georgia Tech Football (@GeorgiaTechFB) February 26, 2019
A sellout crowd saw Georgia Tech play Tennessee at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2017.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
“I’m excited for Georgia Tech, our student-athletes and our fans to have the opportunity to showcase our football program annually in one of the most recognizable and state-of-the-art facilities in the world, Mercedes-Benz Stadium. An annual series at Mercedes-Benz Stadium helps us meet several objectives for the future of our program, including further establishing ourselves as a premier brand in the Atlanta sports culture, giving our student-athletes the opportunity to perform in one of the NFL’s top stadiums and providing our fans with an ultra-modern gameday experience. I’m grateful to extend the outstanding partnerships that we enjoy with AMB Sports & Entertainment, the Atlanta Falcons and the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game and look forward to bringing the great tradition of Georgia Tech football to Mercedes-Benz Stadium.”
– Todd Stansbury, Georgia Tech director of athletics
“The city of Atlanta goes hand-in-hand with the brand of Georgia Tech football, so taking advantage of the opportunity to play in Atlanta’s premier sports venue on an annual basis is a great development for our program. Being able to play the majority of our home games in the greatest setting in all of college football, Bobby Dodd Stadium, while also having the opportunity to showcase our program in one of the finest facilities in the entire world – located nine-tenths of a mile from our campus – each season is a win-win and will be a unique feature of Georgia Tech football. It will be great motivation for our team, exciting for our fans and a great selling point for recruits to play on a stage as big as Mercedes-Benz Stadium.”
– Geoff Collins, Georgia Tech football head coach
“We are excited to announce our partnership with Georgia Tech to host one of their marquee games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium over the next five years. We look forward to hosting Georgia Tech fans from across the region and giving them a world-class guest experience.”
– Steve Cannon, CEO – AMB Group
“Capping off opening weekend with a rivalry like this will put an exclamation point on the start of the season. There’s a lot of excitement around the Georgia Tech program right now. A big-time game with a top-ranked team like Clemson and the backdrop of the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game will be the highlight of the weekend.”
“We like to think of ourselves as the capital of college football because we have a program like Georgia Tech, because we have the best stadium in the world. And to bring in great programs we want to continue to do that in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff game.
To play an ACC game on Monday night when the TV ratings are huge with the unopposed TV slot, it’s great for Georgia Tech. I think Georgia Tech has done a great job since Todd has come here and Coach Collins on breaking through the clutter and this is another example of that. Outside the box thinking in a marketplace that is tough. This is a really good sports marketplace and Georgia Tech has done a great job of building a brand and this game will certainly help with Georgia Tech playing Clemson in an ACC game to start the season in 2022.”
– Gary Stokan, CEO and President – Peach Bowl, Inc.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium, located less than a mile from Georgia Tech’s campus, hosted Super Bowl LIII in 2019.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q. Why is Georgia Tech moving a home game to Mercedes-Benz Stadium each season?
A. There are six reasons why Georgia Tech is taking advantage of the opportunity to play one game per season at Mercedes-Benz Stadium from 2020-24:
- Atlanta Branding Strategy – Atlanta is the epicenter of college football and by playing in the Southeast’s most-recognizable sports venue, Georgia Tech can further establish itself as a major part of the Atlanta sports landscape.
- Ultra-Modern Gameday Experience for Fans – By taking advantage of the opportunity to play in one of the world’s most modern and state-of-the-art sports facilities (located less than one mile from campus), Georgia Tech can once a year offer its fans a one-of-a-kind gameday experience that exceeds the capacities of Bobby Dodd Stadium in terms of technology, audio/visual displays, variety of concessions options and premium seating, while continuing to still play the vast majority of its home games in one of college football’s greatest settings at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
- Football Recruiting – Elite football recruits want to play on the biggest stages and Mercedes-Benz Stadium has become one of the nation’s biggest stages for all levels of football – high school, college and the National Football League. Georgia Tech head coach Geoff Collins and his staff are excited to use an annual game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium as a selling point to recruits, particularly those in the talent-rich areas of Atlanta and the entire state of Georgia.
- Enhanced National Exposure – Having a presence at Mercedes-Benz Stadium has become a staple of elite college football programs. Georgia Tech joins 10 other Atlantic Coast Conference and Southeastern Conference teams that are scheduled to play games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium through 2024 (Alabama – 2019, 2021; Clemson – 2022, 2024; Duke – 2019; Florida State – 2020; Georgia – 2020, 2022, 2024; Louisville – 2021; Miami – 2021; North Carolina – 2020; Ole Miss – 2021; Virginia – 2020). However, the Yellow Jackets are the only team in the nation guaranteed to play in MBS on an annual basis from 2020-24.
- Partnership with AMB Sports & Entertainment – Georgia Tech is proud to expand its existing partnership with AMB Sports & Entertainment, which includes the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and Major League Soccer’s Atlanta United. Playing at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which is also operated by AMBSE, not only strengthens the relationship between some of Atlanta’s premier sports brands, but also exposes Georgia Tech football to the Falcons’ and United’s large and passionate fan bases and presents opportunities for joint marketing and sales initiatives between the organizations.
- Revenue – Based on conservative ticket sales estimates, as well as a financial guarantee to participate in the 2022 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game, Georgia Tech expects a significant revenue lift over the five years that it will hold an annual game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which is valuable revenue that it can reinvest in services and facilities for student-athletes and close the budget gap between Tech and some of its peers.
Q. I am on the fence about becoming a season-ticket member in 2019. Is there any incentive for me to purchase season tickets in 2019 as it pertains to tickets for the 2020 game versus Notre Dame at Mercedes-Benz Stadium?
A. Yes. All 2019 Georgia Tech football season-ticket members will have priority to lower-level seats for the 2020 game versus Notre Dame at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, as well as take advantage of the Loyalty Discount membership benefit, which provided a $25 per seat savings to returning season-ticket members this year.
Q. Will games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium be a part of Georgia Tech football season-ticket packages?
A. Yes, the annual game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium will be a part of Georgia Tech’s football season-ticket packages from 2020-24.
Q. I didn’t like my seat for the 2017 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game versus Tennessee at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Will the setup be the same for these games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium?
A. No. The 2020 (vs. Notre Dame), 2021 (TBA), 2023 (TBA) and 2024 (Notre Dame) games will be Georgia Tech home games, meaning that Tech will have nearly the entire stadium’s inventory to make available to its fans.
For the 2022 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game (vs. Clemson), Georgia Tech will have access to a wider variety of seating options than it did for the 2017 Chick-fil-A Game against Tennessee, while Clemson will receive a visitor’s ticket allotment (for the 2017 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game, Georgia Tech and Tennessee received equal ticket allotments, which made the seating options that GT could offer its fans more limited).
Therefore, for all five games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Georgia Tech season-ticket members will have priority access to preferred seating options, including premium seating inventory (club seats and suites).
Q. I wasn’t able to purchase parking for the 2017 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Will there be additional parking for Georgia Tech fans at these games?
A. Yes. Much like the ticket inventory, Georgia Tech fans will have access to the majority of Mercedes-Benz Stadium-controlled parking lots for the 2020-24 games, as opposed to a limited amount of parking for the 2017 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game.
Q. When will the dates and opponents for the 2021 and 2023 games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium be announced?
A. Dates and opponents for Georgia Tech’s 2021 and 2023 games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium will be announced after those seasons’ ACC schedules are finalized, which will likely be in January of 2021 and ’23. Georgia Tech’s annual regular-season finale versus archrival Georgia is not a candidate to be played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium – “Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate” will be played as scheduled at Bobby Dodd Stadium in ’21 and ‘23.
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