The Florida-Georgia football game might move from Jacksonville. But for how long?
The game known as the “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” may need to find a new home, at least for a couple seasons.
The Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs have played their annual rivalry football game in Jacksonville almost every year since 1933.
But the game is likely to move when Jacksonville’s TIAA Bank Field, home to the NFL’s Jaguars, undergoes renovations. Jacksonville mayor Lenny Curry spoke to Jacksonville radio station 1010XL on Wednesday about the issue and said the goal is a two-year renovation starting in 2025.
The game’s current deal in Jacksonville ends after the 2023 season, but both UF and Georgia officials have an option to extend the contract through 2025, The Athletic reported.
The game generates $20 million to $30 million for the city of Jacksonville, OnlyGators.com reported.
Curry implied in Wednesday’s interview with the sports talk radio station that the two teams would go to a home and home series while TIAA Bank Field pushed the game out for two seasons.
“When it comes down to it, there’s a very, very basic element of everything comes back to, number one money and number two, recruiting and getting good players,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said last October, according to Dawg Nation. “I firmly believe that we’ll be able to sign better players by having it as a home-and-home because we’ll have more opportunities to get them to campus.”
According to OnlyGators.com, Florida head coach Billy Napier, his predecessor Dan Mullen and Curry do not agree with Smart’s assessment that it’s a recruiting disadvantage to play the game in Jacksonville.
“The home-and-home obviously would be fantastic,” Napier said last year, Only Gators reported, “but there’s also some tradition there. There’s a rivalry there.”
The last time the two teams did not play in Jacksonville was the 1994 and 1995 seasons. The game was played in Gainesville and Athens, respectively, as the old Gator Bowl was remodeled to become NFL ready for the expansion Jaguars, The Athletic reported.
The Gators won both games. The Bulldogs have won the last two in the series.
