JACKSONVILLE, Fla.-- The Florida-Georgia game will remain in Jacksonville for the foreseeable future.
The two schools reached an agreement to extend the game's location through at least 2023 with an option to extend to 2025.
The new agreement includes increased financial guarantees for both schools.
“We are excited to continue one of the great traditions in all of college football in having the Florida-Georgia game in Jacksonville,” said Florida Athletics Director Scott Stricklin in a press release. “The Florida-Georgia game is more than a football game, it is a week-long celebration of two storied programs meeting on a neutral field that has created generational memories for both fan bases. We are appreciative of the partnership we have with the City of Jacksonville and Mayor Lenny Curry to extend our agreement.”
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“We look forward to the continuation of one of the greatest college football traditions in the country - a border states battle between Georgia and Florida,” said UGA J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics, Greg McGarity. “The extension ensures the historical preservation of the game in Jacksonville which has been part of the national college football landscape since 1933. The City of Jacksonville has once again demonstrated its commitment to this game through significant financial considerations to each school.”
“We are excited and grateful for our continued partnership with both Universities,” said Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry. “Our new agreement further strengthens the Georgia-Florida tradition we have enjoyed here in Jacksonville for more than 80 years. This game is an incredible asset for our city and the best is yet to come.”
For 84 of the last 86 years, the rivalry game has been played in the city of Jacksonville, however, there were questions of whether or not the 'World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party' would see a new venue.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart was in favor of moving the series to campus sites in an effort to help recruiting. At this time, NCAA rules prohibit schools from hosting prospects at neutral sites.
"It costs you a recruiting weekend,” Smart said in May. “You don’t get to have anybody, they don’t get to have anybody. So our version of the LSU-Alabama game is held in Jacksonville and we don’t have prospects. So it’s not conducive to recruiting, absolutely it’s not."
Meanwhile, Dan Mullen has always voiced his support of the game's location, citing the tradition as a major draw.
“For us moving forward, I think it’s one of the really neat, unique games in all of college football," said Mullen. "There’s not a lot of games where you have that, where you have the stadium split right down the middle at a neutral site like that and within a rivalry game. Makes it a lot of fun to play in Jacksonville.
"But it is such a great event to have the game and it’s such a unique event in college football," added Mullen. "I think you can make arguments that there’s a recruiting positive for it, but I think it’s such a great game and where it’s played is such a unique deal.”
The Gators and the Bulldogs will meet once again in Jacksonville next weekend. Kick off is slated at 3:30 p.m. and will feature a pair of top-ten teams.
