ATHENS, Ga. — SEC commissioner Mike Slive said Saturday that LSU deserves to play the Tennessee game on Sept. 24 at night.

The official announcement will come Monday from ESPN, which is expected to exercise its lead option for SEC games on that date.

Tennessee fans face an uncertain prospect as to whether hotel reservations made months in advance will be honored due to the flood of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina in Baton Rouge.

UT athletic director Mike Hamilton lobbied for an afternoon kickoff to make it easier for fans of both schools to drive in and out of Baton Rouge and find hotels elsewhere.

"We thought about that,'' Slive said, "but in the final analysis, LSU's contribution to (dealing with) this tragedy is enormous. And one of their primary goals is to return themselves to normalcy.

"They have a great tradition of playing at night and that's what the chancellor wanted to do. We're going to respect that.''

Slive visited the LSU campus Thursday. He said the field hospital set up in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center is the largest in the nation's history.

"You saw a massive undertaking,'' Slive said, "but what you also saw was a return to normalcy.

"Things were really winding down.''

Tennessee had sold its full allotment of 7,000 tickets. Fans who choose not to attend will not be offered a refund by LSU.

"There are no refunds and they could make tickets available to evacuees if they would like,'' Slive said.

"That's the same policy Tennessee has at home.''

Slive also announced the SEC has set aside $1 million from the conference's general fund for hurricane relief. The bulk of that money will go to the Red Cross, but some will be held back to parcel out as the need arises.

"This thing is going to have a long shelf life,'' Slive said. "It's not going away in two weeks.''

In addition, each SEC school will collect money for Katrina relief at an appropriate home game. The use of those funds will be at the discretion of the school.