Georgia Tech has canceled their 2014 and 2017 football games against BYU, FBSchedules.com has verified through documents obtained from the Georgia Tech Athletic Association.
Georgia Tech and BYU were scheduled to play in Atlanta on Oct. 11, 2014 and in Provo on Oct. 14, 2017 as part of a four-game, home-and-home contract signed in October 2010.
The two schools will still play the first half of the agreement which begins on Oct. 27, 2012 at Georgia Tech. The series will now conclude on Oct. 12, 2013 at BYU.
In a letter to BYU athletics director Tom Holmoe, Georgia Tech Director of Athletics Dan Radakovich wrote:
I write to inform you of our desire to cancel two future football contests between BYU and Georgia Tech in years 2014 and 2017, respectively. Due to conference re-alignment and the addition of conference games for Georgia Tech, our non-conference scheduling opportunities have lessened and we have other commitments in these years. Please understand that Georgia Tech is still excited about our association with BYU for the two games we have scheduled in 2012 and 2013.
Please accept this letter as our intent to cancel and void the football contract originally dated October 8, 2010. Pursuant to Article 12 in the contract, we are informing you of our interest to cancel prior to August 1, 2012. At this time, we are not interested in pursuing other football scheduling opportunities in future years.
Georgia Tech will not have to pay a $1 million penalty to BYU as a result of canceling the two games, per Article 12 in the contract:
Either party failing to comply with the conditions of this agreement, either by cancellation or failure to appear, shall pay a cancellation fee in the amount of $1,000,000, unless such cancellation shall be by mutual written consent of both parties or such cancellation occurs prior to August 1, 2012 in which case this agreement shall be null and void (emphasis added).
Interestingly, the initial contract did not contain the date exclusion. It was likely added when Georgia Tech learned that the ACC was planning to expand.
With Pittsburgh and Syracuse set to join the ACC, likely in 2013, the ACC will move to a nine-game conference schedule. That means each ACC team will only play three non-conference games per season.
Georgia Tech had four games scheduled for 2014: BYU, Wofford, at Georgia and at Tulane. Obviously, they couldn’t cancel in-state rival Georgia and they wanted to keep their home “buy” game against Wofford. That left BYU and Tulane as candidates for cancellation.
In 2017, the Yellow Jackets now have games scheduled at Ole Miss and home against Georgia. The game against BYU in 2017 will likely be replaced with an FCS or lower-level FBS game at home.
Note: The possible cancellation of these two games was initially reported in March by the AJC.
Football Schedules: