The Florida Gators and the Georgia Bulldogs are set to meet in Jacksonville for the next three seasons as the two teams exercised their 2024 and 2025 contract options over the summer, keeping the annual rivalry at TIAA Bank Field during that span.
“The City of Jacksonville has been an historic host for one of the great rivalry games in all of college football,” Florida Athletics Director Scott Stricklin said. “We are excited to have the game in Jacksonville for another two seasons.”
“We are pleased with the decision to exercise the option that will keep the game in Jacksonville for 2024 and 2025,” said UGA J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Josh Brooks. “We look forward to discussions that I’m sure will continue over the next couple years exploring all the options for 2026 and beyond. We continue to be appreciative of the working relationship we have with the University of Florida and the City of Jacksonville.”
“Jacksonville has been the proud home of the Georgia-Florida game since 1933,” Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry said. “We are excited to welcome back the thousands of Dawgs and Gators to Jacksonville in 2024 and 2025. I want to thank the University of Georgia and University of Florida for their continued faith and investment in our city.”
The discussion on whether the game should continue in Jacksonville, where it has been played since 1933, has picked up steam over the last few years with the contract nearing its end. Gators’ Head Coach Billy Napier gave his thoughts on the location of the rivalry during the 2023 SEC Media Days.
“I think that the Florida/Georgia game is an incredible rivalry. I think there’s history there. There’s tradition there,” Napier said. “There’s a ton of economic implications relative to these decisions. We are going to have to cross that bridge at some point due to the renovations in Jacksonville but there’s benefit to home-at-home from a recruiting perspective, and I think there’s benefit from an economic standpoint for both athletic departments and institution.”
Although Napier sees both sides of the argument, the location of the rivalry is not a top priority for the fifth-year Head Coach (2nd at Florida).
“Right now we have three more years of the same model,” Napier said. “I’ve got enough grass to mow right now, so I’m going go focus on the things that are in front of me.”
Gators’ center Kingsley Eguakun enjoys the game in Jacksonville, but states that it doesn’t matter where the game is played.
“I like playing in Jacksonville because that’s where I reside,” Eguakun said. “I think away games are fun for everybody. It’s kind of a different experience. Backs against the wall. A new opportunity to show everybody what you’ve been working on.”
“But personally, for me, it doesn’t matter, like just put the ball down on the line,” Eguakun said. “We can go play in the parking lot.”
While Napier seems indifferent on the location of the game right now, Georgia’s Head Coach Kirby Smart has been a strong proponent of moving the game to a home and home, believing it will positively impact recruiting.
“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,” Smart said in an interview with the Red and Black. “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.”
Discussions on the rivalry are sure to pick up in the coming years, but for now the Gators and the Bulldogs are currently slated to meet on Oct. 28 for this year’s matchup.