The Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl – one of six New Year’s Day bowls – will come into focus on Jan. 1 with a matchup between Georgia and Cincinnati.
It’s the third time an undefeated group of 5 teams has played in the bowl in seven years – and the Bearcats will try to maintain their undefeated season against the Bulldogs in the state. It should be an exciting matchup generating storylines about the G5’s role in the college football playoff structure.
Behind the scenes, however, there’s a different way of preparing for game day that started with the disappointment caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Gary Stokan, CEO of Peach Bowl, recalls this disappointment after the cancellation of all three Chick-Fil-A kickoff games that were due to take place at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta from September 5th to 12th.
A blockbuster weekend of matchups between West Virginia and Florida (September 5), Georgia and Virginia (September 7), and North Carolina and Auburn (September 12) has been wiped out. The goal changed from “the biggest opening weekend” to the “safest chick-fil-a peach bowl”.
Stokan likes to use one of his favorite phrases: “An attitude of gratitude.”
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“In some ways, it was good that we did a lot of homework and had a lot of best practices for the bowl game,” Stokan told Sporting News. “But it was very disappointing because we put so much work and effort with these six teams only to find out we had to cancel the games.”
A total of 18 bowl games were canceled this year. the newest Texas Bowl matchup between Arkansas and TCU. The Peach Bowl will remain open for Friday and will serve as the basis for the two College Football Playoff semifinals.
Stokan said weekly planning meetings with the fellow Six Year’s Day Six CEOs and the college football playoff committee made this possible. Stokan also followed events with Atlanta United in the MLS and the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The stadium seats 75,000, but for the Peach Bowl it will have a 25 percent capacity between 16,000 and 17,000 fans. Stokan went through the logs showing pods of two and four.
Masks are required – and are available at the gates. Only necessary personnel are allowed on the field. Presentations on the field are not allowed and there are no bands, cheerleaders or mascots.
Of course, there are also strict detailed COVID-19 test protocols.
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“We’re going to test all of the workers, all of our employees, all of the people who come on the field, all of the ESPN people and all of the officials,” he said. “That was a different challenge than ever before.”
Stokan, a former North Carolina state assistant basketball coach, also created a depth map for Peach Bowl staff and volunteers to shift responsibilities on COVID-19 coaches.
“You always have to have a next-person mentality and prepare this second-team man if the first-team person fails,” he said. “We had to create a succession plan for our employees and with our volunteers in case someone had to be quarantined during the day or during the week. This is unique. There is no doubt about it.”
In that regard, Stokan appreciates the schedule that the Power 5 conferences were able to negotiate during the season. The SEC had only canceled two games in its 2020 season.
“I really admire it can’t be said enough what the medics, coaches, the ADs, the staff of the players, the coaches really did to have a game,” said Stokan. “It’s remarkable to me that we had a college football season.”
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Stokan said the downside is the teams aren’t there all week, and that doesn’t just apply to the Battle for Bowl Week activities. Atlanta Secretary CT Young, former Mayor Andrew Young, and members of the Ebenezer Baptist Church – the Church of Martin Luther King Jr. – usually speak to the athletes during the week.
“Here this year, if it’s of the greatest interest, we can’t have that,” said Stokan. “This is disappointing.”
Despite all of this, Stokan maintains a positive outlook.
Stokan is also grateful for this year’s matchup and the impact of that game. The Group 5 team won the previous two games. Houston defeated Florida State 38:24 in 2015 and UCF defeated Auburn 34:27 in 2018. Stokan expects the matchup between the Bulldogs and Bearcats to be just as entertaining.
“This is college football, but by the end of the day both Florida State-Houston and Auburn-UCF teams were ready to play,” said Stokan. “I went to every training session and there wasn’t a team that didn’t want to be there. Anything can happen in every game.”
