Report: Auburn-Oregon was supposed to be 2-game deal
The recent announcement that Auburn and Oregon will open the 2019 season in the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game at Cowboys Stadium was almost even bigger, according to the president of the Kickoff Game and Peach Bowl.
Gary Stokan told Al.com on Monday that the Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game was responsible for organizing the contest between the two marquee programs and tried to make it a two-game series, with one game in Atlanta and one in San Francisco. However, Oregon balked at playing Auburn in SEC country, Stokan said, which led to the revised deal for a one-off neutral-site game in Arlington, TX.
"I'll be honest with you: We were the ones who started the Auburn-Oregon conversation, and we did everything we could to try to get (it)," Stokan told Al.com "Auburn wanted to play Oregon, Oregon wanted to play Auburn. Oregon didn't want to play Auburn in Atlanta without getting a rematch, so we talked to San Francisco, we talked to the Rose Bowl. We tried to put a neutral-neutral game with Auburn-Oregon, and it just didn't work out."
Sorry, fans. The 2019 game will have to suffice.
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