Florida Atlantic replaces Louisville on the '12 schedule

We now know the identity of the team that replaces Louisville on the 2012 schedule – and the steep cost to Georgia.

Florida Atlantic has agreed to visit Sanford Stadium in two years, and is getting $1 million, the highest guarantee Georgia has ever paid a school.

Georgia associate athletics director Arthur Johnson, who handles scheduling, said the cost was a combination of the price of business and timing.

“Obviously we’re a lot closer to that game than we were - less than 24 months away actually,” Johnson said. “It helped us get the other deal done, because anytime you make the kind of change we made, trying to find an opponent is tough.”

The deal with Florida Atlantic was basically done in conjunction with arrangement of the Boise State game to start 2011, and the cancellation of the Louisville series.

This year, the Owls are 4-7 entering their final game Saturday against Troy. The program, which began in 2001, is headed by Howard Schnellenberger – coincidentally, a former head coach at Louisville.

Florida Atlantic is also the alma mater of Rusty Smith, who started last Sunday at quarterback for the Tennessee Titans.

The amount of $1 million may sound like a lot, but it’s the going rate nowadays.

Plus, Georgia comes out pretty well for having canceled the Louisville series. It received $1.7 from the Chick-fil-A Bowl for playing Boise State, and Georgia estimates it receives between $1.8 million and $2.9 million per home game in ticket sales.

So consider:

- Originally it was set to host Louisville in 2011, bringing the estimated home game revenue of, let’s conservatively say $1.8 million. It would also pay Louisville $250,000 for the game, an amount it would get back for returning the trip in 2012. Estimated net gain: $1.8 million, not including travel costs to Louisville.

- Instead, Georgia now pockets $1.7 million for playing Boise State in Atlanta. Then it will pay Florida Atlantic $1 million to visit, but gains (again we’ll go conservative) $1.8 million for the home gate. Estimated net gain: $2.5 million.