College football

Sugar Bowl heads to Atlanta

With the Superdome badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina, the Georgia Dome will host the BCS game.

ATLANTA - The Sugar Bowl touched down in Atlanta on a rainy Friday, moving in with a Southern neighbor that vows to be nothing more than a three-month caretaker before sending the game back to the Big Easy.

Amid all the glad-handing, promises to aid the recovery effort and hopeful talk of returning to flood-ravaged New Orleans, at least one major issue must be resolved before the 72-year-old Sugar Bowl can go home.

What will become of the Superdome?

The Sugar Bowl needs a suitable place to play, but its stadium for the past three decades was left in ruins by Hurricane Katrina.

Bowl officials found a temporary solution for this season, accepting an offer to play at the Georgia Dome on Jan. 2.

"We will make you feel good about this," Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue said to Sugar Bowl officials during a news conference. "Then it can return to its rightful place, New Orleans.

"I guess if a storm hit Augusta in early April and disrupted our storied Masters, then we would know how you feel."

Atlanta was a logical replacement because of its ties to the SEC, which holds its title game there and has long been affiliated with the Sugar Bowl.

The Sugar Bowl likely will return to Louisiana in 2007 as long as New Orleans' infrastructure is in order. The city could host the teams, fans and periphery events suitably close to Bourbon Street while the game itself is played 75 miles away at LSU's 91,600-seat stadium in Baton Rouge.

Bowl officials considered such an arrangement for this season but didn't believe enough hotel rooms would be available. Many have been taken up by workers trying to restore everyday necessities such as safe drinking water.

Beyond 2007, the Sugar Bowl's future is murkier. A campus stadium won't be a suitable host when New Orleans is scheduled to get the national title game and another major bowl under the BCS's new five-bowl arrangement.

Mark Romig, the Sugar Bowl president, said the decision to move the game from Louisiana was "very emotional," knowing that it could have been a major economic boon to an area in desperate need of hope.

New Orleans' two pro sports teams, the NFL's Saints and NBA's Hornets, have already moved out of town for the season. Now the biggest game in town has followed suit.

City and state officials were kept abreast of the Sugar Bowl's plans though it wasn't immediately known how they felt about the decision. Several messages left with Mayor Ray Nagin and Gov. Kathleen Blanco were not immediately returned.

"Everyone is disappointed," Romig said. "But I think they're also understanding."

[Last modified October 8, 2005, 01:26:19]