Washington Demanded That Mercedes-Benz Stadium's Roof Would Be Closed For Auburn Game

It was just two years ago that Auburn and Washington had agreed to meet in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to open up the 2018 season.

Now that the game is upon us, we learned this week that Washington had one firm request in order for the game to happen: close the roof at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium so that it's not hot and humid, something that Auburn is used to and Washington isn't. Per Auburn247Sports:

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“They had been getting a lot of grief about not scheduling anybody in their non conference,” Stokan said Wednesday on WCNN-AM in Atlanta. “I told Chris, I can help you, I’ve got Auburn that is willing to come play in ’18. Why don’t you come play in our kickoff game again and it’ll be a great matchup, it’ll be great for you. I knew Chris was going to get Washington going. As a matter of fact, they came here in their (College Football Playoff) semifinal game and played Alabama. They were No. 4.

“Chris said, ‘I’ll do it. The one thing I want you to do, Gary, is we don’t practice in humid weather up here in Seattle. In August and September I know Auburn is practicing in it, I need you to be able to tell me you’re going to close the roof. So in his contract, I wrote that we would keep the roof closed for this game. So it’ll be 72 and perfect in the air conditioning there in Mercedes-Benz Stadium for Seattle.”

Stokan confirmed Wednesday to Auburn Undercover that Washington requested the roof to be closed for the game.

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Auburn and Washington play Saturday at 2:30 pm on ABC.