Kirby Smart and Billy Napier provide thoughts on Florida-Georgia location change

The Florida-Georgia game will be moving to Atlanta at Mercedes Benz Stadium in 2026 and Tampa at Raymond James Stadium in 2027 as the teams take a two-year break from Jacksonville as EverBank Stadium undergoes renovations, according to Brett McMurphy of Action Network. The series is expected to return to Jacksonville in 2028.

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart was asked about the change in location shortly after the news broke during the SEC’s teleconference on Wednesday morning.

“It’s been talked about and debated for a long time — for a while, since we’ve known the Jacksonville renovation was going to occur,” Smart said. “I think the parties involved did a great job of managing it. I think Jacksonville did a great job stepping up and making it worthwhile for both universities. I’m excited about the opportunity to play at two different locations, so that’ll be unique. Maybe we learn from those two experiences.”

Florida head coach Billy Napier gave his thoughts minutes later.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to play in both Atlanta and Tampa, both great venues. Both will be well-ran operations, you know, I think we all understand the revenue that this game generates for both athletic departments. So, you know, I think it’ll be unique, and certainly we’re excited about that opportunity,” Napier said.

Many fans speculated the game would be moved to a home and home for the first time since the mid 90’s. Napier indicates that both head coaches wanted to play a home-and-home, but that money was the deciding factor in this decision.

“Kirby and I probably both agree that it’d be awesome to play home-and-home, but we also know that there’s a tremendous amount of revenue created by having this game in a neutral site,” Napier said. “So money makes the world go around, and certainly the amount of revenue, there’s a significant difference in the revenue that’s generated, right? So, we play in Jacksonville, there is an historical context to that, but there’s also a revenue component as well, and I think the neutral site will present those same revenue opportunities, and that’s ultimately why the decision was made.”

Florida and Georgia have met 102 times since 1915, with 92 of those meetings coming in Jacksonville. All but two games since 1932 have been played in Jacksonville.

 

 

Nick Marcinko
Nick is a recent graduate from the University of Florida with a degree in Telecommunications. He is passionate about all sports but specifically baseball and football. Nick interned at Inside the Gators and worked part time with Knights247 before joining the Gator Country family. Nick enjoys spending his free time golfing and at the beach.