BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU athletic director Joe Alleva has no interest in sacrificing a home game to play the game that had been scheduled Saturday against Florida but was postponed last week as Hurricane Matthew approached the Florida coast.

There has been rampant speculation since the SEC announced the postponement on Thursday that Florida and LSU would buy out nonconference games on Nov. 19 – Florida against Presbyterian and LSU against South Alabama – so the SEC teams could play that day in Gainesville. Not so fast, Alleva said.

“What I said the other day about this game being very difficult to reschedule is still true,” Alleva said Monday ahead of interim coach Ed Orgeron’s weekly press luncheon. “I think it’s very difficult. One thing that we’re going to hold very firm on is that we have a home game Nov. 19 and we’re going to have a home game on Nov. 19. We are going to have a home game on Nov. 19. We’re not going to change that situation.”

LSU AD Joe Alleva isn't interested in giving up a home game on Nov. 19 in order to play the postponed game against Florida. Stephen Lew/Icon Sportswire

Another option is for LSU and Florida to play on Oct. 29 – LSU’s scheduled open date – although that would require massive schedule changes. First of all, Florida’s annual meeting against Georgia in Jacksonville would have to move up a week to Oct. 22. Then there is the matter of LSU sacrificing the open date that LSU and Alabama both build into the schedule each year ahead of their matchup.

Even moving the game to Dec. 3 and delaying the SEC championship game by a week carries its share of conflicts.

“We have an open date before the Alabama game. I’m not in favor of playing a game on that day unless Alabama also plays a game on that day,” Alleva said. “There’s an option of Dec. 3 when the conference championship game is. I don’t know if that’s going to be an option because there’s TV contracts and [Georgia] Dome contracts. I just get back to what I said, that I think it’s going to be very difficult to reschedule this game.”

LSU’s objection over canceling a scheduled home game obviously starts with lost ticket revenue, but there is also the issue of the game’s economic impact in a Baton Rouge community that was hammered by historic flooding in August.

A 2014 study showed that LSU football is responsible for $397.5 million annually in new sales in the Baton Rouge area and is responsible for 3,948 jobs. Since Thursday’s postponement, the area’s hospitality industry has been up in arms over the possibility of a lost home date – and Alleva empathizes with their concerns.

He suggested that if the teams are unable to reschedule the game, perhaps the SEC can look into alternative methods of determining its division champions this season, like making division records the first tiebreaker instead of conference winning percentage.

“Our fans and this city deserve to have a home game on that day. We’re not going to give up a home game,” Alleva said. “And you know what, if those scenarios play out, maybe there’d have to be other ways of looking at who the division champions are. Maybe you only look at divisional play.”

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey chimed in with a statement on Monday that said, "The presidents and athletic directors from Florida and LSU agreed on Thursday that the schools and SEC Office would make every effort to find a scheduling solution to their postponed game. As I have said, we need to play the game we need to have people come together to find a way to make that happen. We continue to work with the universities to play this game."

Florida AD Jeremy Foley added, "We understand the importance of playing this game and we want to play this game. We continue to work with the SEC and LSU to make that happen."