2025 edition of Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate will sadly be played at a neutral site

One of the greatest rivalries in all of college football has announced that they will be playing at a new location in 2025. That's right, the 2025 edition of Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate will take place at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA.

This will be the first time this game has been played at a neutral site since 1912, ending a run of 102 straight games taking place on campus.

The initial reaction I saw online from Georgia football fans is that they are excited for this change. Next year's game would have been played at Georgia Tech, so moving this to a neutral site gives the Bulldogs one less road game next season. This will also mean there will be a lot more UGA fans in attendance compared to what we typically see when the game is at Georgia Tech's home field.

However, while both of these things are positives for Georgia, I am still not a fan of this change.

Tradition vs. Money

Maybe it's just me, but I am a fan of tradition. I also am a fan of home field environments in college football. So even if that means Georgia has to play another game on the road, I’d honestly rather do that than see this game get moved to a neutral site.

I know nothing has been announced beyond next season, but my fear is that this game could eventually be played at a neutral location every year. Losing out on a home game every other year is something I am not interested in. Some of you may think they Georgia will never agree to lose another home game, but to that I say everything has a price. So many decisions in college athletics nowadays are driven by dollar signs, that’s the exact reason this decision was made for 2025. So there definitely is an amount where UGA would happily move this game away from Athens.

All we can do now is hope that never happens.