Never have I been more proud of Georgia for paying what it takes to provide quality home scheduling.
Georgia has agreed to the highest payout for a non-conference opponent in school history. And it may be the most at this point in all of college football.
Arkansas State will receive $1.8 million to play at Georgia in 2019, according to an agreement between the two schools that has not been finalized yet. The Jonesboro (Ark.) Sun reported the agreement, via an Open Records request. An official at Georgia confirmed it was accurate.
It’s an astounding figure to pay for a non-conference game, but it represents a larger trend.
When Alabama announced in February that it had paid $1.7 million to schedule a 2018 game against Arkansas State, it was written by Footballscoop.com that it was “believed to be the largest single-game payout in college football history.”
Now Georgia has topped that. The game is set for Sept. 14, 2019.
That should be just in time for another contribution bump, I suspect. After all, those cupcakes ain’t gonna pay for themselves. Let’s just hope 2019 isn’t another throwaway year.
Get The Picture 
Those noon kickoffs against crap opponents really pay for themselves in intangibles no matter what the cost. How else will fans be able to bring thousands of kids to the game and allow them to be on the big screen as they dance like retards to rap music?
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They’re not retards, JC, they’re afflicted. That’s what my mama always said.
Blogmaster hammer in 3..2..1…
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My goodness. It didn’t take long at all for you to show up and show out, did it?
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Most sensible post JC has ever made, no reference whatsoever to a face plant or bed wetting.
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I guess we just won’t talk about the coach we could have gotten by slapping that $1.8 million on top of what we’re paying Kirbs, not to mention the extra pot-sweetening revenue we could have gotten from, you know, having a good team.
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Paying $1.8 Mil for Arkansas State is just plain stupid. A cupcake is a cupcake. Most of ’em will take $500K and run. If we were going to pay $1.8 at least schedule a a Power Five cupcake like a Duke or a Kansas or a Cal with no return date of course. I remember when we did just that.
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On the bright side, we just whipped Bama’s ass in paying cupcakes to play us.
The process baby!
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Sunbelt Funbelt
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It would have only been $1.5M but I hear they are now charging a premium because they have to pay all of those staffers to comply with requests under the dracionian Arkansas’ open records law.
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Wow. The snoozefest continues, eh?
But good on Arky St – those boys ain’t so bad in their ‘neighborhood’ right? $1.7 & $1.8 million from us and bammer is no silly way to build facilities/programs etc, right? Didn’t fla st kinda do it the same way back in the day?
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Two more losses to Tech and that could be a good home win for new HC Mike Bobo.
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I wouldn’t jump to conclusions Will, what if the new AD decides to cancel and schedule a upper tier opponent?
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This is unreal. Ark St isn’t even that lowly of a team. How on earth are they commanding such a premium? I don’t understand that market at all. I just can’t imagine that the supply/demand equation actually sorts out to $1.8M for one friggin’ game. There’s got to be someone in the middle skimming from these pots somehow – “consultants” like for executive comp.
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It’s precisely because they are not a lowly team. They are in the upper reaches of the Group of Five teams and we refuse to give them a home-and-home. Arkansas State has reached the level where they can get some teams to come play them in … wherever the hell Arkansas State is located. It costs them money to not get the return game, and Georgia sure as hell isn’t going out there.
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That’s part of my point, though. Why even target these guys? We just had trouble with the biggest softball of all softballs this year (Nichols). If all cupcakes are created equal, why not aim for the bottom? Which again speaks to my market confusion – seems like the bottom dwellars would have the highest market value.
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Jonesboro Ark
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I don’t get it either. Is this a hostage type situation where these guys are pretty much saying they know we are having problems filling out a schedule and this is what it will take for us to bail you out? I understand these guys needing these payouts, but geez.
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This is the year ND plays in Athens so I’m fine with a mid major but I am interested to see how the 2018 is completed. The payout does seem absurd.
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*18 schedule
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2018 is the real question. UT, Auburn, and Vandy return to the home slate along with Tech. Right now 2 of 3 out of conference games are Murray State and UMass. All of the current neutral site kick-off games are lined up (unless one decided to double up a la CFA in 2017 with both Bama-FSU and Tech-Tennessee).
I think a one-off at MetLife Stadium versus Syracuse would hit the spot.
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Kennesaw State at 10:30 am on ESPN 8 “The Ocho”
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I thought the opener was still open.
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It is.
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If Mark Richt had set the schedule far enough in advance, we wouldn’t be paying for his mistakes now.
And what’s with the new “*Like” button I’m seeing in the comments…new WP feature Senator?
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Thought I’d trot it out and see how you guys like it.
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I like it, but I have to “log in” to use it. So I don’t like it. Everyone knows the gub’ment uses that to track you.
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I like it but could not figure out how to login. Do we have to join blogspot?
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It ain’t hittin on much….
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Guess you need a WordPress account. Logon info for GTP does not do it. 😥
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What this tells me is that we should hire arky state’s a.d.
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You people have no idea how hard my job is. Now get your Hartman Fund donations in and shut up. I’ve had it up to here with the “society of the miserable”. Our organization is a fine organization that gives many, many people 6 figure jobs.
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Dear Greg, guess that executive administrative assistant just hired to assist you in handling open records requests is one sharp dude to come up with this deal. Like the dummy I have been for these many years the check will be in mail shortly. Yours truly to loyal to give them up.
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Seating capacity is 92,746. Divide $1.8 million by said seats, means roughly
Twenty bucks of each ticket goes to Arkansas state. Suggest you keep the money in Georgia, recycling in our economy. Mercer, Fort Valley State,
Ga. state, etc. just whoop up your neighbors. Yee haw.
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Would it not just be sweet if everyone showed up in The Classic City just to Tail Gate!! The hell with the game…maybe it is time for the fans to make a statement…ya think
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Am curious as to where this will stop. 5 million to have someone come in, just so UGA does not have to do a home and home? The what happens if you lose one of these games.
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$1.8 to help reach bowl eligibility, assuming the offense continues to “improve” like it did this year.
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What is a cupcake? There were no such things in 2016
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This is what happens when you get so addicted to cupcakes that you will pay “drug lord” money to get another one. It isn’t like anyone, I mean anyone, will give you more credit for beating an Arkansas State than a Georgia State, Kent State, ULM, etc. Add this to one of the dumbest things McDummy has done. We don’t even get credit when we beat SEC East teams any longer, what the hell is he smoking?
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