The Sugar Bowl will be played in either Baton Rouge, La., or Atlanta after being forced out of the Superdome in New Orleans by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Sugar Bowl officials said Tuesday they would know in about three weeks whether Louisiana had recovered sufficiently to keep the game in the state where it has been played every year since it was established in 1935.

While Tiger Stadium, capacity almost 92,000, on the LSU campus would make an adequate game host, the city of Baton Rouge does not have enough hotel rooms and sufficient infrastructure to host an event that would bring in thousands of tourists for the Jan. 2 game.

Sugar Bowl executive director Paul Hoolahan said if the game was to be played in Baton Rouge, New Orleans would have to be prepared to house most of the people – from participants and media to fans – traveling to the game.

“We are going to continue to talk with city and state officials, everybody who will need to be involved in this process,” he said in a teleconference from Chicago with BCS officials. “This is totally about New Orleans.”

Atlanta already has given Sugar Bowl officials the OK to play the game in the Georgia Dome, which hosts the Southeastern Conference championship game in December. That made Atlanta an obvious and convenient choice as a temporary home for one of college football’s longest-running and most recognizable events. The SEC has a long relationship with the Sugar Bowl, having sent its champion there for decades.

The Peach Bowl is scheduled Dec. 30 in the Georgia Dome, and the Falcons have an NFL game scheduled there Jan. 1, but Atlanta officials have assured the Sugar Bowl that those games wouldn’t interfere with the bowl. Officials would like the bowl to stay in Louisiana.

“We want to be part of the recovery story for the state and the Gulf region,” Bowl Championship Series commissioner Kevin Weiberg said.