Georgia won the title of national champion again, but there won’t be a follow-up White House visit.
The Bulldogs declared on Tuesday that they will not be attending what is being dubbed “College Athlete Day” on June 12 after Joe Biden extended an invitation.
“The University of Georgia first received on May 3 an invitation for the Bulldog football team to visit the White House on June 12,” Georgia’s athletic association said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the date suggested is not feasible given the student-athlete calendar and time of year.”
Supporters of Georgia complained that the team hadn’t been invited sooner a few months ago.
“It is our hope that this repeat championship team can join the many teams prior that have been honored by the President,” a bipartisan group of Georgia’s congressional delegation wrote to the White House in January, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The White House “looks forward to welcoming” Georgia, a representative of President Biden said in February, but the invitation didn’t come until last week.
The Biden White House has just resolved a dispute in which Jill Biden, the first lady, suggested asking Iowa’s women’s basketball team, which came second to LSU in the national championship last month, to attend.
“I know we’ll have the champions come to the White House, we always do,” the first lady said after watching the game. “So, we hope LSU will come. But, you know, I’m going to tell Joe I think Iowa should come, too, because they played such a good game.”
The first lady’s idea was rejected by LSU star Angel Reese. “If we were to lose, we would not be getting invited to the White House,” Reese said. “Remember she made a comment about how both teams should be invited because of sportsmanship. I’m like, ‘Are you saying that because of what I did?
“Stuff like that bothers me because you are a woman at the end of the day, white, black, Mexican, it doesn’t matter. You’re supposed to be standing behind us before anything.”