Sugar Bowl CEO: Kickoff game trending in right direction
Florida State has a rich history with New Orleans, with the Seminoles having played some of their more memorable football games in the shadow of the Big Easy.
A few of those magical moments stand out, particularly to Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley.
“I remember ‘The Fifth Quarter in the French Quarter’ [game in 1995], when they played Florida after a tie in the regular season,” Hundley recalled. “We had a national championship matchup [in 1999] with Virginia Tech and Michael Vick, and Florida State won that game.
“We’ve had some really good experiences with the Seminoles.”
Florida State has appeared in the Sugar Bowl six times over the years, most recently in 2002, and the Seminoles are returning to the Caesars Superdome on Sept. 4 to take on LSU in the Allstate Louisiana Kickoff game.
While the Sugar Bowl has been a major player in the college football postseason since 1935, this is the first time organizers have hosted a kickoff game
Other neutral-site venues such as Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta), AT&T Stadium (Dallas), Bank of America Stadium (Charlotte) and NRG Stadium (Houston) also have hosted games to start the season.
Camping World Stadium in Orlando is scheduled to host both schools in the 2023 season opener.
Organizers wanted to remain conservative with their approach, so it made sense to choose schools close to New Orleans.
Baton Rouge is about 90 miles away and Tallahassee is a six-hour drive, making logistics for travel a bit easier. The attraction of having two traditional blue blood programs also would encourage a sellout.
“It’s our first foray into the kickoff game business, but it’s gone pretty well,” said Hundley. “We’re excited about the opportunity and looking forward to what we think will be a pretty good game. It’s got a lot of reasons for people to pay attention to it.
“On the LSU side [it’s] Brian Kelly’s first game, and then for Florida State we’re sensing a lot of optimism from their fan base.”
Whether it’s optimism or spending Labor Day weekend in New Orleans, Florida State fans have opened their wallets. Their 30,000-ticket allotment sold out.
It was a pleasant surprise for Hundley and the event organizers.
“They sold their tickets a lot quicker than anticipated and sold the entirety of it,” he said. “LSU is doing well ticket sales-wise but has not sold its full allotment at this point. We feel things are shaping up for a good Labor Day weekend.”
Tickets on secondary markets start at $63 and go as high as $1,887.
Another appealing aspect for organizers was the television window, with the game earning a prime-time spot on ABC on Sunday night.
“Getting the television piece of the equation locked in was important for ESPN,” Hundley said. “They loved the two brands for a national audience, and it was important for us and not something we could take for granted.
“We needed that to be able to sell title sponsors and make all the numbers work.”
Last season’s Week 1 game on Sunday night between Notre Dame and Florida State was the second-highest watched game (4.2 rating, 7.751 million viewers) of the Labor Day weekend, according to Nielsen ratings. It finished behind Clemson-Georgia (4.6 rating, 8.863 million viewers).
For those planning on making the trip, there’s no shortage of fun things to do in the area, including events tied to the game itself. Organizers have a free event planned outside the Superdome featuring music, food and drink, and performances by both schools’ bands.
“We think that’ll create a neat atmosphere leading up to the game itself,” said Hundley. “They’ll certainly be a lot of people, which will create a lot of energy,”