Chick-fil-A Kickoff featuring Alabama and FSU sells out

ATLANTA — The college football season opener between powerhouses Alabama and Florida State officially became a sellout Friday, nearly two months before they meet up in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff on Labor Day weekend.

The sellout was almost a given since each team has been ranked as high as No. 1 in preseason polls, and no poll so far as ranked either lower than No. 4 in the nation.

In fact, it is possible that the kickoff will feature the two highest-rank teams ever to meet up on opening weekend, and even could be a preview of the 2018 National Championship Game. Quite a christening for the first college football game to be played at Atlanta’s new Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

“We’re calling this game the GOAT, the Greatest Opener of All Time, because of the projected rankings, the dominance of these two programs and the fact that this is the toughest ticket I have seen in my 20 years in college football,” Gary Stokan, CEO and president of Peach Bowl Inc., said. “To possibly have No. 1 against No. 2 in the first game of the season is a credit to the programs that Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher have built and their willingness to play this game shows their desire to compete at the highest level.”

FSU and Alabama hold five of college football’s last eight national championships. Percy Vaughn, Peach Bowl Inc. chairman, said the organization knew it had a great game for the opener, but it may exceed the already lofty expectations.

“We knew this was going to be a special game,” he said, “but I’m not sure we fully expected it to reach historic levels like this.”

The Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game is scheduled to start at 8 p.m.on Sept. 2, and the Saturday contest will be nationally telecast by ABC.

Peach Bowl officials note the two teams have met four times on the field, dating back to 1965. Alabama holds a 2-1-1 series advantage, but the Seminoles got their lone win in their most recent matchup with the Tide in 2007.

This will be Alabama’s fifth appearance in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game, and it will be Florida State’s first time opening in Atlanta. One of the teams will extend a long season-opener win streak — the Crimson Tide has rolled off 15 in a row, while the Seminoles are at six.

It also will mark the ninth time the ACC and SEC have faced off in the kickoff, with the SEC holding a 7-1 record in those meetings.

In its dozen years, the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game has sold out nine times. organizers say its game attendance average, 67,645, is higher than the attendance of 35 bowl games last season and that its average payout of $4.7 million is higher than 27 bowl games last season.

The teams will battle for The Old Leather Helmet Trophy, one of college football’s newest rivalry-style icons. Traditionally, winners of The Old Leather Helmet don it on the field after the game, starting with the head coach and then rotating from player to player as the team celebrates.