Why Notre Dame is playing Georgia Tech at Mercedes-Benz Stadium

Marcus Freeman and the Eleventh-ranked Preventing Irish discover themselves on the street in Week 8 to begin a two-game stretch away from Notre Dame Stadium.

However the Irish’s Week 8 contest in opposition to Georgia Tech will not be going down on the Yellow Jacket’s house stadium. As an alternative, Saturday’s assembly between Notre Dame (5-1) and Georgia Tech (5-2, 3-2 in ACC play) will happen inside an NFL stadium: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, in Atlanta, roughly 2 miles from Bobby Dodd Stadium.

REQUIRED READING:Grading the Irish: How did Notre Dame fare on its report card after win over Stanford?

It’s the first assembly between the Irish and Yellow Jackets since 2021. Saturday’s impartial website recreation is not the primary time Notre Dame has performed an in-season, common season recreation at a impartial website, nor will or not it’s the final for the 2024 season.

This is what to know on why Notre Dame is taking part in Georgia Tech at Mercedes Benz Stadium, together with why the Irish are taking part in a number of impartial website video games this season:

Notre Dame vs Georgia Tech location

Stadium: Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Location: Atlanta

Saturday’s assembly of Notre Dame and Georgia Tech is going down inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the house of the Atlanta Falcons. It has a capability of 71,000 per a number of reviews.

Why is Notre Dame-Georgia Tech at Mercedes-Benz Stadium?

In 2019, Georgia Tech athletics, AMB Sports activities & Leisure — operator of Mercedes-Benz Stadium — and the Peach Bowl introduced a five-year settlement permitting Georgia Tech to play one recreation yearly at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, from 2020 by way of 2024.

In truth, Georgia Tech vs. Notre Dame was speculated to be the primary recreation of that settlement in 2020, however the recreation was moved to Bobby Dodd Stadium because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Notre Dame, in fact, performed as a member of the ACC that season.

“I’m excited for Georgia Tech, our student-athletes and our followers to have the chance to showcase our soccer program yearly in some of the recognizable and state-of-the-art services on the planet, Mercedes-Benz Stadium,” former Georgia Tech athletic director Todd Stansbury mentioned in a press release on the time.

“An annual collection at Mercedes-Benz Stadium helps us meet a number of aims for the way forward for our program, together with additional establishing ourselves as a premier model within the Atlanta sports activities tradition, giving our student-athletes the chance to carry out in one of many NFL’s prime stadiums and offering our followers with an ultra-modern gameday expertise.

I’m grateful to increase the excellent partnerships that we take pleasure in with AMB Sports activities & Leisure, the Atlanta Falcons and the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Sport and stay up for bringing the nice custom of Georgia Tech soccer to Mercedes-Benz Stadium.”

Mercedes-Benz Stadium was additionally introduced on Tuesday as the location of the 2025 “Clear, Outdated Original Hate” rivalry between Georgia Tech and Georgia.

Why does Notre Dame soccer have so many neutral-site video games?

Whereas neutral-site video games in the course of the common season aren’t unprecedented, particularly in Week 1 of the season, Notre Dame has been taking part in these video games for fairly a while.

From 2021 by way of 2023, Notre Dame has performed 4 neutral-site video games within the common season, in comparison with 12 true street video games. As a result of Notre Dame competes as an impartial, it’s not required to a sure variety of house and away video games every season.

This is a breakdown of Notre Dame’s impartial website video games in the course of the common season since 2021:

Location in parentheses

2021: vs. Wisconsin at Soldier Area (Chicago)*
2022: vs. BYU at Allegiant Stadium (Las Vegas)*
2022: vs. Navy at M&T Financial institution Stadium (Baltimore)
2023: vs. Navy at Aviva Stadium (Dublin)

* Denotes Shamrock Sequence recreation

Notre Dame soccer neutral-site video games in 2024

Notre Dame is taking part in three neutral-site video games this season — in comparison with three true street video games — beginning with Saturday’s contest in opposition to Georgia Tech at Mercedes Benz Stadium.

The Irish will then journey to East Rutherford, New Jersey in Week 9 for his or her 97th assembly with the Midshipmen inside MetLife Stadium. It’s the eighth time that Notre Dame-Navy will probably be performed at MetLife Stadium, and the primary since 2010. This recreation and placement had been introduced again in 2021.

Notre Dame will then resume its Shamrock Sequence on Saturday, Nov. 23 in opposition to Military at Yankee Stadium. It’s the first Shamrock Sequence recreation for the Irish since 2022.

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