The SEC to Texas: No Bevo at the conference championship game vs. Georgia
By Jill Martin, CNN
(CNN) — A popular member of the Texas Longhorns’ contingent won’t be able to attend the Southeastern Conference championship game on Saturday in Atlanta.
That would be Bevo, the famed real-life Texas longhorn. The reason: There’s just not enough room. The current mascot Bevo, known as Bevo XV, weighs 1,700 pounds, according to the Associated Press.
“We looked at alternatives,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said Friday on Pat McAfee’s show on ESPN. “We have a limited space reality.”
No. 2 Texas, in its first year as a member of the SEC after leaving the Big 12, will take on No. 5 Georgia. On October 19, Georgia upset the then-top-ranked Longhorns 30-15 in Austin.
“When we received the request for Bevo to be on the sideline in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, our staff looked at several alternatives including the sideline location,” SEC spokesman Chuck Dunlap said.
“The reality is there is limited sideline space at the stadium. We can’t jeopardize the safety of Bevo or the game participants. With the narrow sidelines, location of multiple sets for television and camera carts, there is not enough space. While we want to honor tradition across the conference, the space limitation is a reality.”
Dunlap also said the conference did identify several options for Bevo, including a location at SEC FanFare, but there was no opportunity for him to be on the field due to the space limitations. Bevo will remain in Texas.
According to the school, a massive, live longhorn mascot was first part of the football tradition in Austin in 1916.
Meanwhile, accommodations will be easier for Georgia’s live mascot, two-year-old English bulldog Uga XI.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Uga XI’s owner, Charles Seiler, has said the canine will indeed make the trip. Uga XI did not travel to Texas earlier this season, the AJC previously reported, because the dog had not been on an airplane yet.
The-CNN-Wire
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