Georgia football vs Auburn: The rivalry returns to its roots this Saturday

College football evolves in Atlanta

After Georgia and Auburn stopped playing annually in Atlanta in 1903. Georgia Tech began play in 1893 and became Atlanta’s team. More teams played neutral site games in Atlanta but as years passed, Atlanta became just another city for college football.

The center of the college football in the south became Birmingham in the mid 20th century as Alabama rose to prominence as the south’s best program. Since they played their biggest home games in Birmingham’s Legion Field, that town was the site for the south’s biggest contests.

In 1968, the Lions Club of Georgia created the Peach Bowl and held the first three games in Georgia Tech’s Grant Field. LSU defeated no. 19 Florida State in the first Peach Bowl 31-27. In the early years, the Peach Bowl featured ACC teams versus teams from other conferences.

The Atlanta Chamber of Commerce took over the game a few years later. 10 of the first 13 Peach Bowl’s featured at least one ranked team. In 1993, the SEC reached a deal with the Peach Bowl making it a game between SEC and ACC schools.

In 1997, Chick-fil-A became the primary sponsor and renamed the game the Chick-fil-A Bowl from 2006-to-2014. But it reverted back to the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in 2014 to join the College Football Playoff System.

The Peach Bowl is the ninth oldest bowl game. The game sold out each time from 1998-to-2013 and the 2007 game was the highest attended non-BCS game.

But the biggest boost to college football in Atlanta came in 1994 when the SEC Championship Game moved from Birmingham to Atlanta. This was the start of the center of college football in the south shifting to Atlanta.

Inside the new Georgia Dome at its location, the SEC Championship Game became more than just a game. The whole weekend became a big deal with a Super Bowl-like atmosphere. The winner of 13 SEC Championship Game winners went on to play in the National Championship Game and the College Football Playoff has featured the SEC Champion each year.

And in 2008, the Peach Bowl created Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game. The game has stared at least one ranked team each year and two games were held in 2012, 2014 and 2017. The game consistently draws crowds of more than 70,000 people.

Earlier this year, the Mercedes-Benz Stadium finished construction. The stadium is one of the largest and most gaudy stadiums in the world. It gives Atlanta an iconic venue to host sporting events and was integral in the city being able to host playoff and National Championship Games.

In 2014, the Peach Bowl joined the College Football Playoff System and it hosted Alabama and Washington in a semi-final game last season. The Peach Bowl will host a semi-final again in 2019.

Also in 2014, construction on the new College Football Hall of Fame completed. Five years earlier, the National Football Foundation announced that the hall of fame was going to move from South Bend, Indiana to Atlanta. Now, one of the sports most important buildings is located in Atlanta.