Chick-fil-A Is Financially Delicious For Georgia, Oregon And Everybody Else

At the end of the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game Saturday in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, those running the event will deliver The Old Leather Helmet Trophy to Oregon or to Georgia.

OK, it’ll be Georgia.

The Bulldogs remain loaded despite a record 15 players taken during last year’s NFL Draft after they won the national championship. In addition, Oregon players will encounter four different time zones along the way to town, but the Bulldogs will play this “neutral” game just 71 miles from their home in Athens.

Not that the loser (you know, Oregon) will be a loser.

Everybody will win.

Such is life for this preseason bowl game in a city, not only noted as the capital of Georgia but of college football.

No wonder Chick-fil-A Kickoff officials switched in recent years from one of these games every fall to two. They invented this whole concept of neutral cities hosting preseason bowl games in 2008, and their objective was to entice major college football programs to change their scheduling mindset forever. They wanted those teams to open with a huge opponent instead of a ho-hum one.

It worked . . . for everybody.

At least for everybody surrounding one of these Chick-fil-A games.

Chick-fil-A Kickoff officials told Forbes.com last week their bowls have distributed $101.2 million in team payouts for an average of $5.9 million in total team payouts per game since their inception. They also said that latter number was higher than 30 of the 45 bowls (including all-star games) during the 2021-2022 season for Football Bowl Subdivision schools (FBS).

That’s for starters.

Now where should we continue with this financial success story in college football showing more signs of exploding than imploding?

How about recruiting?

According to Bleacher Report, only Florida and Texas produced more college football talent than Georgia for the 2022 recruiting class.

“That’s one example why both teams win by playing (in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game), and the other example is, since we have such a large alumni base in Georgia (for a slew of teams), a lot of the coaches and (athletics directors) want to come over here, because donor money is huge in Atlanta,” Gary Stokan said, sifting in his mind through the 24 years he has served as CEO, president and visionary of Peach Bowl, Inc., which runs the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game.

Stokan added, “Typically, for the Saturday game (as opposed to the Monday game this year featuring Clemson and Georgia Tech), every Friday night, there will be an AD and a president at our reception. Then they’ll leave for a big donor dinner that the school has arranged for the donors here in Atlanta.”

As for other winners . . .

You have the traveling fans of the participating teams, along with those who hug most things college football.

“It’s a win for them, because if they want to buy a ticket, they can come to the game,” Stokan said, referring to the average attendance through the years of 67,064 for Chick-fil-A Kickoff games, which his officials said finished the 2021-2022 season outdrawing 43 of the other bowls.

“For the fans who can’t make it here to Atlanta, they still get a chance to watch a great game on TV to open the season,” Stokan said, and according to Chick-fil-A Kickoff officials, the ratings validate Stokan’s comment.

Those officials said the 2021 Chick-fil-A Games drew 9.1 million viewers for an all-time total of more than 87.5 million viewers.

Then there are the coaches. For decades, they pushed for the bosses of their powerhouse college football programs to open their seasons against pitiful opponents for easy victories.

There’s nothing easy about Saturday’s game.

Georgia is No. 3 in the Associated Press poll to Oregon’s No. 11, but both teams care only about the rankings at season’s end. They wish to become one of the four members of the College Football Playoff.

We’re back to these Chick-fil-A Games.

“The coaches win, because of the great recruiting, but also because of the great opportunity since, as coaches say, the biggest improvement they see in their teams is from Week 1 to Week 2,” Stokan said. “So now with these games at the start of the season, they have live film. They’re not playing against each other (in scrimmages), and the live film allows coaches to coach players up individually the next week and collectively as a team.

“They may be playing in this game against somebody who is going to be an all-conference player, an All American — maybe a future NFL player instead of somebody from a (Football Championship Subdivision) school.”

Stokan’s point? The players involved with these games are more focused during spring, summer and fall workouts.

“The players win, because they like to play in these big-time stadiums and in big-time games against big-time opponents, and the city of Atlanta wins,” Stokan said, mentioning his people have determined their 14-year-old Chick-fil-A games have had a financial impact on the city of $512.8 million and $34.3 million in combined direct state and local tax revenue.

So, instead of Stokan saying “Go Bulldogs” or “Go Ducks,” he’s screaming inside of his head: “Go everybody.”