Georgia governor touts Bulldogs 4-peat for Atlanta in 2025

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s governor has excessive hopes for his alma mater.

With Atlanta set to change into the primary two-time host of faculty soccer’s nationwide championship sport in 2025, Brian Kemp sees no motive the Georgia Bulldogs can’t be going for his or her fourth straight title that yr — whereas taking a jab at Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens.

“As y’all know, Georgia gained the nationwide championship final yr,” Kemp, a Republican, mentioned on the announcement Tuesday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. “I imagine they’re going to repeat this yr. Then win the following yr. And them we’ll see them win their fourth in a row, mayor, on this sport.”

Dickens, a Democrat and an alumnus of rival Georgia Tech, then proposed a state of affairs that is likely to be much more far-fetched than Georgia’s four-peat.

“I’m with the governor,” the mayor jokingly shot again. “We will get Georgia again to again to again. Then in 2025, we will have the Bulldogs vs. the Yellow Jackets, y’all, proper right here for the nationwide championship.

“That may be,” he added, absolutely conscious that Georgia Tech has gained solely 9 video games the final three years, “superb!”

Atlanta reveled in its choice as a repeat host, boasting that it has all the pieces wanted to drag off one other thrilling occasion. It beforehand hosted in 2018 — lower than a yr after the opening of its 75,000-seat, retractable-roof stadium close to downtown.

The School Soccer Playoff introduced the approval of a pair of repeat hosts on Monday. South Florida’s Onerous Rock Stadium additionally landed the championship for the second time in 2026, a make-up for its 2021 sport being severely hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Atlanta had no such points in its earlier title sport, which was performed earlier than a packed home and stays one of the thrilling video games within the eight-year historical past of the playoff format.

Alabama rallied from a 13-0 deficit, beating Georgia 26-23 on Tua Tagovailoa’s 41-yard landing go to DeVonta Smith in extra time. Georgia obtained its revenge on the Crimson Tide final season, beating Nick Saban’s squad 33-18 with a dominant fourth quarter.

“Georgia has a protracted and proud soccer historical past,” Kemp mentioned. “A few of it’s good, like final yr, and a few of it’s actually unhealthy, like once I was sitting in the long run zone in the course of the nationwide championship sport, watching that go from the Alabama quarterback fall into the receiver’s hand whereas with certainly one of my daughters. That was a troublesome loss, however an awesome sport and an awesome venue.”

In its brief historical past, Mercedes-Benz Stadium has landed a plethora of massive occasions. The Tremendous Bowl was held there in 2019, and it’s set to be certainly one of 11 U.S. host venues for soccer’s World Cup in 2026.

It additionally was scheduled to carry the Closing 4 of males’s school basketball in 2020, however the pandemic pressured a cancellation of the season simply earlier than the NCAA match. Atlanta is anticipated to make one other bid for that occasion by the top of the last decade.

Invoice Hancock, govt director of the School Soccer Playoff, mentioned Atlanta was an apparent option to get the sport once more after the playoff completes in 2024 its decade-long dedication to play the title sport in numerous cities across the nation.

Hancock additionally denied stories that Las Vegas was the preliminary alternative for the 2025 sport, however needed to again out due to a scheduling battle with a significant conference.

“It wasn’t a present from us. Atlanta earned this with the stadium and inns and management and, in fact, (the world’s busiest) airport,” Hancock mentioned. “It’s a bit of bit like being a chef. You search for all the fitting components. Atlanta has all the fitting components.”

Hancock mentioned there was no consideration of Georgia’s political state of affairs. The metro space was stripped of Main League Baseball’s All-Star Sport in 2021 after Kemp signed into regulation a measure that opponents mentioned was designed to make it more durable for minority voters to solid a poll.

For the reason that overturning of Roe v. Wade, the state additionally has made it unlawful to have an abortion after six weeks of being pregnant normally.

“Sports activities and politics don’t combine,” Hancock mentioned. “We’re sports activities.”

___

Extra AP school soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25 Join the AP’s school soccer publication: https://apnews.com/cfbtop25