Kirby Smart uninformed on Ludacris G-Day contract
By John Buhler
New Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart “wasn’t privy” to the contract details that had Atlanta rap superstar Ludacris perform before April 16th’s G-Day.
The Georgia Bulldogs had well over 100,000 people in attendance for their annual glorified scrimmage at Sanford Stadium, best known colloquially as G-Day with members of Dawg Nation. It was a glorious Saturday in Athens for the Bulldogs, with Atlanta rap superstar Ludacris performing a 15-minute set before the annual G-Day game Between the Hedges.
However, new Georgia head coach Kirby Smart apparently wasn’t in the know about the details of the contract to get the College Park native Ludacris to perform at Sanford Stadium. He told the SEC Network’s Paul Finebaum on his popular television/radio show on Thursday afternoon.
"I wasn't privy to the contract & obviously we need to do a better job of handling situations like that" - Kirby Smart on @Ludacris at G-Day
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) April 21, 2016
While Smart got exactly what he wanted in terms of having Sanford Stadium packed to the brim on an April Saturday, Ludacris received a handsome payment from the Georgia athletic department for his brief performance. Ludacris made $65K for his trip to the Classic City and requested the Georgia athletic department to provide food for he and his crew, as well as a box of Trojan Magnum condoms.
Smart maybe be a Georgia alum, but things are run differently in Athens than say at his former employer at the University of Alabama. Smart has pushed for a 90-day waiting period an open records request so stuff like this doesn’t go public.
Smart may be a man of faith like previous Georgia head coach Mark Richt, but Ludacris is rap royalty from Atlanta. Few have had the long-term success of the College Park rap mogul turned movie star. Smart had a massive turnout for a spring game and should be ecstatic about the turnout for 2016 G-Day.
Not only did Dawg Nation get to see future starting quarterback Jacob Eason light it up on April 16th, but they got to see Ludacris repping the Georgia G on his chest when he performed at Sanford Stadium. 2016 G-Day was an overwhelming success for Smart’s Georgia program as the Bulldogs look to win their first SEC East Division Title since 2012 and the SEC Conference Championship since 2005.
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