SEC moving preseason football media event to Atlanta in 2018

ATLANTA (AP) The Southeastern Conference will move its preseason media gathering to Atlanta next year, the first time it's been held outside of the Birmingham area since 1985.

Commissioner Greg Sankey announced the move Friday on the eve of the SEC championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. He says the Football Media Days will be held in July at the College Football Hall of Fame and the adjacent Omni hotel, bringing together coaches and players from the league's 14 schools to meet with hundreds of media representatives.

Sankey said it's not a permanent move. The event will return to Hoover, a suburb of Birmingham, in 2019.

The long-term plan is to move Media Days throughout the conference's 11-state region. The 2020 site has not been determined.

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