Atlanta loses historic SEC title game to CFP

Atlanta's run of hosting the SEC football championship is coming to an end. This afternoon, the college football playoff announced it is expanding. That expansion led the major conferences to discontinue championship games. Fox 5's Hernan Gutierrez joins us in studio with this story. And Hernan, you talked with an expert about what this all means for Atlanta. Yeah, and that expert at Georgia Tech, a fellow there, tells me he's disappointed to see the game go, but it's good news, or not necessarily bad news for Atlanta. The SEC Football Championship has called Atlanta home since 1994, and he says Atlanta will be okay without the game, but it'll still be a tough loss for the city. Sort of a trade-off for the historical versus maybe the financial. A 2014 playoff means an end to the SEC football championship in Atlanta. Declan Abernathy at Georgia Tech says the game has helped the city cement itself as the capital of college football. Atlanta has spent quite a long time trying to make itself into the premier sports destination in the country. And I think... The SEC championship game was a really good payoff for that. The Georgia World Congress Center Authority reports the game brought more than a billion dollars to the state between 1999 and 2015. Abernathy says more recent studies show the game brings in more than $30 million a year, though he's skeptical of economic impact projections. It's hard to know really how much money it brings in. And, um, But, you know, I think it's a tough loss because it's not a big lift. If you don't have to. Develop any new infrastructure or build anything. According to the Georgia Hotel and Lodging Association, the annual event is a boost to the businesses it represents during a slow time of year. In a statement to Fox 5, the group's CEO, Chris Hardman, says they're disappointed in Monday's news, but, quote, we look forward to continuing to welcome college football playoff games to Atlanta for years to come while embracing new opportunities to bring fans and visitors to destinations throughout Georgia. There's also an impact on fans' wallets. Abernathy says he sees ticket Ticket prices only going up, meaning local fans could lose out. The lack of games means less access and probably more folks watching on TV rather than being able to experience sort of the magic of college sports in person. And the expanded form of the college football playoff bracket will still include the historic Peach Bowl game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Officials with the stadium declined to comment on Monday's announcement. Yeah, it's such a great venue. You know, they're going to continue to have business. And gosh, there's just so much money in college sports these days. Do we think that this expanded playoff is going to mean a lot more money for the players themselves? Yeah, so that's a great question because that's one of the concerns that I couldn't get to in the story. Abernathy, the expert over at Georgia Tech, says he's kind of paying attention to that. Maybe becoming a question of a labor issue between the college athletes themselves because all of these networks, all of these conferences, they're going to be getting kickbacks, the schools themselves too, with all of this money getting poured into. So he says he's paying attention to whether those players are going to want a seat at that table and want more money on top of that NIL money that they're already getting. Yeah, a lot of changes coming down with this decision, but the fans are sure to be disappointed and miss something that they've looked forward to year after year. Exactly, less football. Football for our fans, especially here in Atlanta. Yeah. All right. Earn on, thanks.