According to the Virginia Tech Athletic Department, Alabama and Virginia Tech are in discussions to open the 2009 football season in a "made for television game" at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. The announcement presents VT as squarely on board with the arrangement with or without the Tide.
This is a deal that makes a ton of sense for Bama. The Tide is already set to play Clemson in '08 and Duke in '10 in the Dome. The three games at the Dome would make four neutral site games in four years for Bama as they also played FSU in Jacksonville last year.
Why the Neutral Site Emphasis (My theories):
- Recovering from Instability -- During the late 90s, UA booked a series of exciting home and home match-ups with UCLA, Oklahoma, Penn State and I think Nebraska. During the coaching instability that followed the Dubose reign -- four coaches in four years -- Alabama postponed or cancel several of those marquee match-ups. From 2004-2006, Alabama didn't play a single BCS team in 10 non-conference games.
Saban has said, he wants to ramp up the non-conference schedule. However, home and home series are complicated to book...especially with less than 4+ years notice. Booking a neutral site game can happen much quicker. I think some of the neutral site scheduling is Bama filling in the gaps until the PSU (2010/2011) and later the GT series (2013/2014) start.
*Note: the Duke game is different. Bama did a 2 for 1 deal with Duke several years ago with the assumption that Duke would sell its home game to some venue. The Dome smartly entered the picture there and beat out Mobile, Charlotte and others. - Recruiting -- For all the jokes about Nick Saban not "having time for this sh*t." The fact remains that the guy can really recruit. To me, one puzzling thing about Alabama's recruiting prior to the Saban regime was the lack of heavy emphasis on the ultra fertile, easily accessible Atlanta market.
When Bama ventured out of state, they seemed to prefer to get nastier and head to Memphis where cash payouts, strip clubs and cold sores are an integrated part of the recruiting landscape. Last year, Saban pulled two kids out of the Greater Atlanta area as well as a couple of Georgia Tech transfers. This year, three of his first eight commits are from the Atlanta area.
The Dome visits can only help him open doors in Georgia's backyard.
However, I would like to see them spread the participants around a bit more. Let's get teams other than Alabama in there. If you're only playing one game every 3-5 years in town instead of three (or more) years in a row, it's tougher to raise your permanent exposure in the area.
Regardless, Bama's recruiting in Atlanta, and their use of the Georgia Dome is definitely something to keep an eye on for Georgia fans.
(Update: Not so fast my friend. Bama says they haven't inked anything yet. I'd still like to think it'll get done if at all possible. It just makes too much sense.)
PWD
