Football capital

Why Atlanta is now the undisputed champion for marquee college events.

Hancock has said the driving factors in awarding the game to Atlanta were “the opportunity to play in that brand new state-of-the-art stadium, the concise footprint of hotels and spaces for ancillary events (near) the stadium, and of course the excellent air service (to Atlanta).”

College football long has been big business here. According to the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau’s annual compilation of the largest conventions and events that visited the city, three of the top five last year — ranked by attendance — were college football games.

Nos. 1 and 2 on the list were the Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Markets in January and July at AmericasMart Atlanta, each drawing about 93,000 people. Nos. 3, 4 and 5 were the SEC Championship game, the Peach Bowl and the Chick-fil-A Kickoff game, in that order, with attendance ranging from 73,800 to 65,000. (Falcons games aren’t on the list because they draw mostly locals, rather than visitors.)

The three college games generated direct economic impact of $42.52 million (SEC Championship game), $40.33 million (Peach Bowl) and $23.46 million (Chick-fil-A Kickoff ), according to the ACVB.

The impact of this year’s Peach Bowl will be larger, based on a study commissioned by the Orange Bowl, which hosted a playoff semifinal last season. (The economic impact of sports events is hotly debated and often disputed by experts.)

Economic impact

BRANT SANDERLIN / BSANDERLIN@AJC.COM As usual, the SEC Championship game will come to town carrying its annual national championship implications. Last year’s win over Florida in the Georgia Dome propelled Alabama into the College Football Playoff.