Georgia-Clemson cancelation could open the door for streamer to pounce
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Major college football programs are canceling tantalizing future non-conference matchups, and now you can add the Georgia Bulldogs and Clemson Tigers to the list.
Georgia and Clemson were set to play four games, split between Death Valley and Between the Hedges, from 2029-2032. However, both teams agreed to cancel the planned series this week.
The list of planned home-and-home series that would have been great for college football fans and have now been called off is almost too long to list. Among the casualties are Indiana-Notre Dame, Alabama-Oklahoma State, LSU-Arizona State, and others. Georgia has also shelved games against Florida State and Louisville.
While the new nine-game SEC and ACC schedules are a big reason for the onslaught of cancellations, another reason could be the same. Money.
Both Georgia and Clemson are considering playing at a neutral site. It is certainly appropriate for fans to ask why there may be interest in playing a big non-conference game away from campus, but not at home venues.
As we saw with the Notre Dame-USC saga, neutral-site games provide new opportunities for schools to make a ton of added revenue. We saw it when Netflix tried to televise a neutral site game for the storied college football rivals. We also saw it when the upcoming Duke-Michigan college basketball game was canceled amid a multimillion-dollar tug-of-war among competing interests.
The television rights and regulations around neutral-site games are cloudy at best. But it’s believed that if certain conditions are met, these games could be sold to the highest bidder as one-off contests that would allow the schools to net the rights fees since it would be outside their conference television deals. It’s how Duke was able to carve out a package for Amazon.
So, in theory, Georgia can play Clemson home-and-home as part of their current TV deals… or they can schedule a neutral-site game where Netflix, ESPN, or another streamer or network could pay $25 million to televise it.
Imagine what the recent series between Texas and Ohio State could draw if it were opened to bidding. What about a game between Alabama and Michigan? It might be too good to pass up for both the schools and the networks. And with the College Football Playoff expanding to 24 teams, the top schools may feel better about taking the risk to schedule these games, knowing they won’t risk their playoff positioning too much and can make millions. Except for Curt Cignetti and Indiana, probably.
With money flooding into college athletics like never before and schools looking for every ounce of increased revenue possible, it seems it’s obvious where the sport is heading. Of course, it will continue to alienate and betray the loyal fans who would want to see these games on campus, but what else is new?
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