Georgia football: Should the Bulldogs ever play at SunTrust Park?

Last week, Kennesaw State announced that the Owls football team will play a game in the Atlanta Braves new stadium; SunTrust Park, in 2018. Should Georgia football follow suit?

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No. Of course they shouldn’t. Who really wants to play or watch a football game in a stadium designed for baseball?

Sure, games like these get a lot of attention. Wrigley Field, Yankee Stadium and Fenway have had many major football games over the years. But that shouldn’t provide inspiration for Georgia football to play at SunTrust Park.

That’s at least what I thought when I first heard that question brought up. But after looking at the renderings from the announcement I have to say, football doesn’t look that out-of-place at SunTrust park.

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Most of the time when you see football fields in baseball stadiums, there’s at least one area that is too far away from the action. Usually it’s two however, such is the case at Marlins Park and the new Yankees Stadium. And right field is too far from the action at SunTrust Park, but the rest of the stadium will be right on top of the action.

Right field being too far will not be a problem for Kennesaw State when they play Jacksonville State in 2018 as they’re only selling 25,000 tickets and right field will be excluded. But that will be an issue for a more high-profile game where the demand for seating will be higher.

But Mike Plant, the Atlanta Braves president of development stated that SunTrust Park was built with football in mind. Citing that other Major League stadiums have hosted profitable football games so SunTrust Park should as well.

And looking at the stadium overhead, you can almost see the potential for a big time college football game. SunTrust Park may only seat 41,000 people, but right field doesn’t seat many people at all because of the Chop House. And like all major league stadiums , there are no seats in center field.

So there’s a lot of unneeded seats in right and right-center field for a football game. That means that large bleachers can be brought in. They would either cover up the right field seats or they could be aligned with the wall so those seats could be included. But covering those seats would let them build taller bleachers that seated way more people.

That’s how it can be done, and the justification for playing football in SunTrust Park. But why should Georgia play there? Well why not?

Georgia versus anyone in SunTrust Park is going to grab headlines and hold attention for months. You want more convincing? Look at Tennessee’s game against Virginia Tech at the Battle in Bristol last season.

It was a huge game, the only game that night between teams that finished the season ranked. But at the time, the game wasn’t anything special. Tennessee was predicted by many to win the SEC East, but Virginia Tech was coming off four straight years where they failed to win at least nine games. Plus the Hokies were breaking in a new head coach.

Would College Gameday have gone to this game if it was in Knoxville or Blacksburg? Possibly, but with the Holy War between Utah and BYU also playing that night, it’s not very likely. A primetime slot on ESPN or ABC would also have been unlikely.

But the setting made that a must watch game. All of the sudden, this game is intriguing. College Gameday is in Bristol, they’re playing in prime time. It’s the biggest game of the night.

Georgia playing in SunTrust Park would have a similar affect. The Bulldogs could be playing an unranked opponent, but they would have the nation’s attention. Gameday would be there, the Bulldogs would have top billing on ABC or ESPN. All eyes will be on Georgia football.

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As long as college football has a system where champions are determined by voter based rankings, teams should never turn down the opportunity to play in such games. You only have 12 or 13 chances to show off for these voters, you want to do so on the biggest stages possible.

Kickoff games, rivalries, neutral site games, games in odd locations. Whatever gets everyone’s attention, you want to be in.

That is why, Georgia football should not pass up the opportunity to play at SunTrust Park or any game like this for that matter.