LSU AD Joe Alleva: Hopefully announcement on LSU-BYU game will come by Tuesday

By JAMES MORAN | Tiger Rag Associate Editor

LSU athletic director Joe Alleva said Monday that no decision had been made on where LSU and BYU will play Saturday night, but expressed hope that a decision would come no later than Tuesday.

Alleva did express full confidence that the game would in fact get played.

“Barring something crazy happening, I’m confident this game is going to get played,” he said. “The No. 1 goal in this whole thing is to play the game and that’s everybody’s goal is to play the game.”

Alleva declined to discuss any of the potential venues for relocation as the game is almost certain to me moved from flood-ravaged NRG Stadium in Houston. He said LSU offered Tiger Stadium as a potential venue but added it’s unlikely to happen.

There are “no parameters” in terms of where the game can’t be moved in terms of distance.

“This is ESPN’s game. It’s not LSU’s game. It’s ESPN’s game,” Alleva said. “They have the rights to it and they are negotiating where the game will be located, and like I said, we’ve been in constant contact with them. As soon as we know something, we’ll let you know and I hope that will be within the next 24 hours.

Potential relocation sites, according to multiple media reports, include the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Nissan Stadium in Nashville and the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

Alleva addressed the factors of playing the game in New Orleans as Hurricane Harvey threatens to move east down the gulf coast.

“I think right now, the biggest thing that’s going through their minds is where is the best venue to play this game and the storm is a factor, fans are a factor,” he said. “There’s a lot of things that are factors. But right now, ESPN is in negotiations with various venues to see which is the best place for this game to be played.”