Boise State in, Louisville out (for now): The gory details

OK, it’s official now: Georgia vs. Boise State on Sept. 3, 2011, to kick off the football season.

And Georgia’s previously scheduled series with Louisville, set for 2011-12, is now off, "much to the dismay" of Louisville, which still hopes to play Georgia sometime in the future.

Here are the pertinent details:

- Why play this Boise State game? It appears the key was not really the 2011 opener, but not having to go to Louisville in 2012.

In place of that, Georgia athletics director Greg McGarity said he was “really close” to scheduling a non-BCS opponent for Sanford Stadium in September of 2012.

“This game, I think it’s one game that I know the University of Georgia has never really played in,” McGarity said. “We felt like it was important that we be on the national stage. We felt it would bring a level of national excitement that we really need in our program. … It allows us in 2012 to schedule a home game, which would give us seven home games in 2012.”

- As for why Georgia and Boise State? Gary Stokan of the Chick-Fil-A Bowl, which puts together the event, said thusly:

“You’ve got two powerful, nationally known football brands. My belief (is) that led by Aaron Murray, Georgia will be nationally ranked going into this game. And so will Boise State.”

(Notice he didn’t say A.J. Green.)

- McGarity was asked for head coach Mark Richt’s reaction to the Boise State game.

“Oh I think he was very excited. I mean he wanted to make it work,” McGarity said.

Richt wasn't on the call, but in a statement released by Georgia, he said: “This is the type game that excites me, it will excite our players and I know it will excite our fans. We know it will put Georgia on a national stage in the season opener. It will make for a great off-season of preparation and anticipation to play a great team at a great facility in our home state.”

- Boise State and Georgia will each receive 7,500 tickets. The rest basically go to the general public.

- Georgia will not owe Louisville to cancel the series, as the Chick-fil-A people worked that out with Louisville. But Georgia will receive a payout of “somewhere around” $1.7 million, according to bowl chairman Gary Stokan.

That’s about $600,000 less than North Carolina and LSU each received to play in this year’s game. And $600,000 just happens to be the amount Georgia would have owed to Louisville for each of the canceled games.

Georgia still gets out pretty well financially. According to the wording of the contract, it would have owed Louisville $1.2 million.

Louisville will now play North Carolina in 2011 and 2012, in a game apparently helped put together by ESPN and the Chick-Fil-A. Those latter two entities apparently had a hand in brokering almost all of this.

- Interestingly, a release from Louisville said Georgia’s cancellation off the series was “much to the dismay of the Cardinals.” But athletics director Tom Jurich said in a statement he would like to explore still playing Georgia at some point in the future.

"While we certainly would have preferred to keep the series with Georgia, we are pleased to open up the season next year at North Carolina and look forward to hosting them at Papa John's Stadium in 2012," Jurich said. "We were thrilled when we secured a series with Georgia five years ago. We were approached to mutually agree to cancel this series, but we declined. Georgia exercised their option to cancel our series so they could participate in the 2011 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game.

"Obviously, we wanted to retain the series as we know our fans have been looking forward to playing them since 2005. Even though we are disappointed in this series of events, we appreciate ESPN for their assistance in attaining another quality BCS opponent and for their commitment in televising the games. We look forward to playing North Carolina, we will have discussions with Georgia about a possible future series, and we will continue to explore future dates with other quality opponents."

- Ole Miss will play Boise State in the 2014 kickoff game. That will be on a Thursday night, on Aug. 28.

Ole Miss is getting $2 million and Boise State is getting $1.1 million. Officials said the payout difference was due to Ole Miss giving up a home game.

The Rebels were originally scheduled to play Boise State in the 2011 opener in Oxford, Miss.


TICKETS

I'm getting a lot of questions about tickets. McGarity said they were going to meet Monday to go over the plan. But he indicated that the yearly Jacksonville plan was a good guide.