[LouisianaRush]

Should they move the SEC Championship game? For those who follow college football you may know that the SEC holds its championship game in Atlanta every year before the kick off of the bowl games. The winner of that game represents the SEC in the Sugar Bowl (A BCS Bowl) in New Orleans. The Big XII hold a championship game as well, but they rotate it between major cities within the conference (Kansas City, Dallas, Houston, OKC, and etc.) Should the SEC do the same with Nashville, Mobile, Birmingham, Jackson, Montgomery, and Charleston? Is it fare to the SEC West to travel all the way to Atlanta, which is in the Far Eastern side of the conference boundaries? Most SEC Teams are far west of Atlanta. Does this give some advantage to Univ. of Georgia year after year and hurt Univ. or Arkansas, LSU, Ole Miss and Miss State, which are hundreds of mile away? What do you think?

[sleepy]

I think it's a matter of money. If other cities want to bid on the game and offer a more attractive package than Atlanta, they should be able to do it. I don't really think location offers any particular advantage or disadvantage. Atlanta's not much more than a good half-day's drive from any school in the SEC, with the exception of Fayetteville AR.

[kickazzz2000]

What stadium in Charleston or Jackson could you possibly use for an SEC championship game?! If youre gonna rotate it, I'd say do it between Atlanta, Birmingham, Nashville, New Orleans, and a Florida city (probably Orlando). True, Orlando is far from the other SEC schools (minus UF), but people would go to Florida for a game anyway.

[Randy Sandford]

The first two SEC Championship Games were played in Birmingham (where the SEC is headquartered) before the decision was made to move the game to Atlanta in 1994. That's one of the reasons that Birmingham wants to build a domed stadium--to lure the game back to Birmingham. I'm all for rotating it rather than keeping it in Atlanta forever, but if it had to stay in one city, Birmingham is the best location not only because that is where the SEC's headquarters are, but it is the most centrally located city among the schools of the SEC.

http://skyscraperpage.com/gallery/data/500/97sec.jpg

[sleepy]

What stadium in Charleston or Jackson could you possibly use for an SEC championship game?! If youre gonna rotate it, I'd say do it between Atlanta, Birmingham, Nashville, New Orleans, and a Florida city (probably Orlando). True, Orlando is far from the other SEC schools (minus UF), but people would go to Florida for a game anyway.

Jackson has a 60,000 seat stadium. You could add Memphis (63,000 seats), Jacksonville (Alltell stadium), and Tampa (Bucs stadium) to the list as well.

[DonTallPaul]

Consider it home town bias, but of course I want to keep the game in Atlanta. And, even though in the last couple of years it may seem like an advantage that the SEC championship is basically a home game for UGA consider two things: Ticket are generally split evenly, or nearly evenly between supporters of the two teams, unlike a home game when 99% of the crowd supports the home team, and that UGA, until recently, hadn't won the SEC in like 20 years. Not exactly a lot of times UGA has gotten to play in Atlanta for the SEC championship.

I agree though, money is more likely behind the game. Atlanta does represent one of the largest pools to pull from in terms of population, and although geographically not central in the SEC, it is within a days drive of the entire conference.

[LouisianaRush]

It makes more sense to have it in Alabama than Georgia. Like Randy said, it is more centrally located. I would rather have it rotate not using New Orleans. New Orleans has the Sugar bowl; the SEC teams are trying to get to the Sugar Bowl though the SEC Championship game.

[Sunstorm]

I think rotating the game would be a great idea. There are a lot of cities that would love to host, and are perfectly capable of doing so (Why should ATL have all the fun?). Also, of the Florida cities, I think Jacksonville makes the most sense because its close to an SEC school (UF), has a superb stadium, and is closer to more SEC schools than other Florida cities are.

If the game were to be held in the same city, year after year, I would think B'ham would make the most sense for reasons already stated. All it needs is a big, fancy stadium like the GA Dome.

[TexasBoi]

Being a Big 12 fan i agree that they should rotate it every year in the SEC. In the big 12 they have it in one big 12 south city( Houston, Dallas, San Antonio) and one big 12 north city(Denver, Kansas City, St.Louis)the next. those are the only six cities that really can host a game right now in the big 12
The SEC could do the same...have it in a SEC East city(Jacksonville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Nashville) one year and a SEC West city(New Orleans, Jackson,Memphis, LittleRock).

If the game were to be held in the same city, year after year, I would think B'ham would make the most sense for reasons already stated. All it needs is a big, fancy stadium like the GA Dome.

There's one problem with that....would the city of birmingham build such a stadium to only be played it in once or twice a year..thats the same reason what is going on with TX/OU game with the cotton bowl right now. TX and OU wants the cotton bowl renovated but the city of Dallas wont do it last i heard

[Randy Sandford]

TexasBoi, that isn't the only reason Birmingham wants to build a domed stadium. There's also the hope of one day luring an NFL expansion team, but the proposed stadium will be adjacent to the existing Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex and would be designed as a multi-purpose facility that could also be used for large conventions and other events.

BTW, Alabama and Auburn are both in the West Division, so if the SEC followed the Big 12's rotation plan, Birmingham would be part of the West rotation instead of the East. I've always disagreed with Auburn being assigned to the West Division because until the realignment in 1992, our biggest rivalries (besides Alabama) were Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee. We had to stop playing Tennessee on an annual basis in 1992, but were able to continue playing Georgia and Florida under the original plan where each team played two "permanent" opponents from the other division on an annual basis and one rotating opponent (in addition to playing all teams in the same division obviously). Last season, a new plan was adopted which gave each team only one permanent opponent and two rotating opponents from the other division, so in addition to losing our traditional annual rivalry with Tennessee, we've now lost Florida as an annual opponent too. If Auburn were in the East Division (as it should have been), we would have retained all of our traditional rivalries (with Alabama as our permanent opponent from the other division). Besides, Vanderbilt is further west than Auburn is, but I don't forsee that being changed anytime soon.

[Pride]

I'm all for the rotation. However, our minor cities are hard to compete with Atlanta, considering all of the revenue the SEC Championship actually brings to a city. It would be great if such a thing would happen, though.

[LouisianaRush]

Yeah Randy, I would put Vanderbuilt in the West as well but that is not going to happen.

[hmorgan]

I'd like to see it move back to B'ham if they ever build the dome stadium. While I may be an Alabama fan, and have a state bias, it seems Birmingham is the best choice, for it <i>is</i> the SEC HQ and where the game used to be held. My second choice would be Knoxville, third would be the Georgia Dome, and the fourth would be the Superdome in New Orleans.

[Sunstorm]

^^^Your second pick is KNOXVILLE?! What the....?!:nuts:

[hmorgan]

Hey, they have the biggest SEC stadium...

[LouisianaCharm]

i personally would put it in one of the northern or central florida cities, or just keep it in atlanta. not to knock birmingham, but there really isnt alot of flare there. what would the best overall conferance in the nation look like playing its championship game in birmingham

[hmorgan]

Umm... If you haven't noticed, that's where the game used to be played. Plus Legion Field has 10,000 more seats than the Georgia Dome and Superdome.

[Sunstorm]

Hey, they have the biggest SEC stadium...

So????? It's still UT's home turf. It would make as much sense to play it in G'ville, Athens, or Baton Rouge. Besides, the "Super Bowl" of the SEC should be played in a large city, for all of the obvious reasons.

[clobbersaurus]

Should they move the SEC Championship game? For those who follow college football you may know that the SEC holds its championship game in Atlanta every year before the kick off of the bowl games. The winner of that game represents the SEC in the Sugar Bowl (A BCS Bowl) in New Orleans. The Big XII hold a championship game as well, but they rotate it between major cities within the conference (Kansas City, Dallas, Houston, OKC, and etc.) Should the SEC do the same with Nashville, Mobile, Birmingham, Jackson, Montgomery, and Charleston? Is it fare to the SEC West to travel all the way to Atlanta, which is in the Far Eastern side of the conference boundaries? Most SEC Teams are far west of Atlanta. Does this give some advantage to Univ. of Georgia year after year and hurt Univ. or Arkansas, LSU, Ole Miss and Miss State, which are hundreds of mile away? What do you think?

Why limit the games to cities "within" the SEC ("within" I presume meaning cities with SEC schools). Atlanta is 60 miles from Athens, right? Or does "within" mean within the SEC region? In that case, places like New Orleans, Atlanta, maybe even Memphis should be in the mix as well, especially if it ever replaces the Liberty Bowl or at least renovates it. Memphis is maybe 70 miles from Ole Miss...

[VAGator]

The Championship Game is not going to be in Birmingham again anytime soon. It was moved out of Alabama in the first place to decrease the influence of the Alabama schools anyways. Add to that Legion Field and the area around it is a dump and dangerous