When Sugar Bowl officials evacuated from New Orleans to Atlanta two months ago, they felt overwhelmed by their unprecedented task: relocating one of college football’s top postseason events to a new city on the fly.
Now, thanks partly to a fortunate matchup of teams, the bowl that has been played in New Orleans every year since 1935 figures to seem almost at home in the Georgia Dome on Jan. 2.
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The matchup of Southeastern Conference champion Georgia vs. Big East champ West Virginia ensures a Sugar Bowl sellout and, combined with the Peach Bowl between Top 10 teams LSU and Miami on Dec. 30, portends a big holiday season for the Atlanta hospitality industry.
“We’re all smiles,” said Bob Schuler, vice president of sales for the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The Georgia-West Virginia matchup has created such demand that “it’s not a matter of trying to sell tickets but trying to manage them,” said Paul Hoolahan, the Sugar Bowl’s executive director. He figures both schools could sell at least double their allotment of tickets.
The Peach and Sugar Bowls are sandwiched around a Jan. 1 Carolina Panthers-Atlanta Falcons game at the Georgia Dome.
“It’s going to be an electric atmosphere,” Schuler said.
Sugar Bowl officials moved their game to Atlanta after Hurricane Katrina forced it from New Orleans, and they plan to return the game to Louisiana next season. But they seem confident that their hasty Atlanta game will meet their New Orleans standards.
“You can’t … re-create a French Quarter experience, but you can take the best of what’s available in a city and package it in a way that I think will be exciting,” Hoolahan said.
The confluence of the Peach and Sugar Bowls is the equivalent of having “two of Atlanta’s top 15 conventions in the last week of the year,” Peach Bowl President Gary Stokan said.
“It’s a formidable challenge, but I think we’ve got our arms around it,” he said.