When Dodd pulled us out of the SEC, he invariably ceded our place in Atlanta sports. No more annual games with 'Bama, Auburn, Tennessee that drew large crowds and LOTS of media attention. Made even worse over the years as Atlanta has become the city where all those school's graduates move to. UGA became the "hometown" team to root for against those SEC teams simply by GT removing ourselves out of the conversation. Think of what Gamedays are like with Clemson and UGA. Now imagine having to play Auburn/Tennesseee/Florida/USCe/'Bama/Ole Miss/etc. Those are multiple games GT would be in the national conversation...especially given how we've actually been a really good program.
Also, think of all the money GT gave up with attendence, TV contracts, sponsorship opportunities, etc. GT was so destitute during the "lost years" before the ACC that we almost gave up major sports. Instead of building up our war chest and stacking money, we wandered around hoping to find a home. Probably hundreds of millions of revenue given up during that period up to today given the disparity in media contracts between the SEC and ACC.
Do you think those hundreds of millions would be useful now given the arms race with facilities and coaches salaries?