Schedule Rumor: TCU vs. Georgia?

The AJC reported over the weekend that Georgia is in very preliminary discussions with TCU regarding a possible football series in Athens and in Jerry Jones' new Dallas Cowboys Stadium. The games would be played in the 2013-2015 time frame.

Arthur Johnson, the assistant AD in charge of scheduling, described the deal as far from done for a variety of reasons including the lack of a firm SEC schedule beyond 2011 and Georgia's desire for more home games in the future.

But why TCU? Here's a look at Georgia's future non-conference schedules combined with the SEC West rotation for those years.

The Time Frame in Question:

2013 -- We need two more non-conference home games that year. One will likely be a Div I-AA team. You'd think we could just buy the other game against a UAB/UCF/Marshall type squad. It can't be a Ben Hur epic match-up given that we're already playing all our normal foes plus Clemson, LSU and Bama. Why bother booking at home and home with anyone starting this year?

2014 -- The schedule ratchets down with Bama rotating off, and we have a road game available. The appeal of a TCU series starting in 2014 might be a big payout from Jerry Jones in his new stadium for playing a relatively manageable opponent in a likely TV Match-up.

2015 -- We need two non-conference home games, and one of them needs to be a solid team because otherwise the home schedule will suck. With the escalating ticket and contribution prices, which will no doubt be higher in 2015, fans are going to want a better home schedule than AU, SC, ARK, UK, a team like UAB and a Div I-AA squad. I just don't see TCU providing any incremental sizzle.

In my opinion, the only way a TCU series makes sense to me is if it's designed as a two for one in 2013 (home), 2014 (New Cowboys Stadium) and 2015 (home). But even then it just doesn't blow my skirt up.

My preference:

• Book something more local - I'm dropping $750-900 on this ASU trip (flight, hotel, booze, ticket, etc), and that's fine because it's a big game. But TCU ain't worth $700 to me. There's an entire ACC full of teams in drivable distances.
  
  
• The Georgia Dome -- Take a list to the Atlanta Sports Council of about 15 top tier teams that everyone respects and say "We have X, Y and Z dates in 2014 and 2016 available. Get us a game in the Dome against one of these teams and $3 million. We'll be there." It's worth a shot.
  

But a home and home game to TCU? Blah. I could deal with a 2 for 1, but it just seems like kind of a wasted opportunity now that the Georgia Dome is an option.

See Also:
-- Football Scheduling Complexities - Georgia Sports Blog
-- Future UGA Schedules - SicEmDawgs.com
-- New Dallas Cowboys Stadium

PWD

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