New deal puts one Georgia Tech football home game per season at Mercedes-Benz Stadium

Georgia Tech athletics, AMB Sports and Entertainment and Peach Bowl, Inc. announced a partnership Tuesday afternoon that will have Georgia Tech football play an annual home game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium from 2020-24.

The deal begins with a Nov. 14, 2020 home game against Notre Dame, and also includes an Oct. 19, 2024 game with the Fighting Irish. The Yellow Jackets will face Clemson on Sept. 5, 2022 in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game at the home of the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United. Tech’s 2021 and 2023 opponents in the Atlanta venue have not been announced.

“I’m excited for Georgia Tech, our student-athletes and our fans to have the opportunity to showcase our football program annually in one of the most recognizable and state-of-the-art facilities in the world, Mercedes-Benz Stadium,” Georgia Tech athletic director Todd Stansbury said in a release. “An annual series at Mercedes-Benz Stadium helps us meet several objectives for the future of our program, including further establishing ourselves as a premier brand in the Atlanta sports culture, giving our student-athletes the opportunity to perform in one of the NFL’s top stadiums and providing our fans with an ultra-modern, game-day experience.”

All five games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium will be included in Georgia Tech’s season-ticket packages and Tech season-ticket members will have priority access to preferred seating options, including premium seating, as well as parking. As an immediate benefit to Yellow Jackets fans, all 2019 Georgia Tech football season-ticket members will have first priority to lower-level seats for the 2020 game versus Notre Dame.

Tech’s opponents for the 2021 and 2023 games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium will not be announced until the ACC schedules are finalized for those seasons, likely in Jan. of 2021 and 2023. Officials said the annual rivalry game with Georgia is not a candidate for moving to Mercedes-Benz — those game will be held at Bobby Dodd Stadium as planned.

“The city of Atlanta goes hand-in-hand with the brand of Georgia Tech football, so taking advantage of the opportunity to play in Atlanta’s premier sports venue on an annual basis is a great development for our program,” first-year Tech head coach Geoff Collins said. “Being able to play the majority of our home games in the greatest setting in all of college football, Bobby Dodd Stadium, while also having the opportunity to showcase our program in one of the finest facilities in the entire world – located nine-tenths of a mile from our campus – each season is a win-win and will be a unique feature of Georgia Tech football. It will be great motivation for our team, exciting for our fans and a great selling point for recruits to play on a stage as big as Mercedes-Benz Stadium.”

The lure of Mercedes-Benz Stadium to potential football recruits is one of six reasons Tech outlined for moving a game away from Bobby Dodd each season. The others include more national exposure, a modern game-day experience for fans, an opportunity to establish Yellow Jackets football more in Atlanta, a chance to expand a partnership with AMB Sports and Entertainment and a projected significant revenue lift over the five-year period.