Jacksonville’s mayor used a few words on a local radio station Wednesday to start wild speculation about college football fans playing in what’s known as the world’s largest outdoor cocktail party. Florida and Georgia may start playing elsewhere, but the situation is complicated if Mayor Lenny Curry made it happen in an interview on 1010XL.
The impetus for Curry’s revelations came after the Jacksonville Jaguars had to play elsewhere for two years while TIAA Bank Field underwent substandard renovations to create a new stadium. That means the Bulldogs and Gators will have to play elsewhere for two seasons. Curry said in the interview that those games will be in Gainesville and Athens, but it’s not that simple.
First, let’s start with the years. Curry said the “goal” for 1010XL is to begin stadium renovations in 2025, which would make it unavailable for the Jaguars, Gators and Bulldogs for the 2025 and 2026 seasons. Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said. The athletics On Wednesday, the Gators are operating under the assumption that if the stadium renovation goes ahead, it will begin in 2026 and leave the facility unavailable for 2026 and 2027.
The current agreement to play the Florida-Georgia game in Jacksonville expires after this season, but Bulldogs and Gators officials have the option to extend it for two seasons through 2025. Both Stricklin and Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks said the pick will definitely be up, but that’s speculation. The game has been played in Jacksonville since 1933, except for two years, which we will explain below.
Where will the games be played in 2026 and 2027 if Stricklin is right? Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and Sanford Stadium are options. The series moved to campuses when the old Gator Bowl was torn down to create an NFL-ready stadium for the Jaguars. In the year Florida beat Georgia 52-14 in the Swamp in 1994, and the Gators beat the Bulldogs 52-17 in the middle of the 1995 game. If the schools decide to play games on campus, the current schedule has Georgia as the home team in years. And Florida as the home team during the spectacular years. So the 2026 game will be in Athens and the 2027 game in Gainesville. Perhaps the new SEC schedule, which begins in 2024 when Oklahoma and Texas join, will change that. But that is the current arrangement.
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Finance is different these days than it was in the mid-90s. The deal with the city of Jacksonville has been so lucrative for both schools that playing on campus costs as much as a home game for each school for a season. Each school currently earns about half of the Jacksonville game gate with a full gate at a campus home game. A similar independent site contract can bring you the same amount of money.
So if Jacksonville Stadium is gone for two years, don’t be shocked if the game is sold to Atlanta, Orlando, Tampa or Miami. And if one or two of those cities bite, don’t be surprised if Jacksonville’s price increases before 2028 to reclaim the series.
“We look forward to speaking with the appropriate Jacksonville officials who will provide us with more information on the scope of construction, the timeline of the project and the future of our games at Florida,” Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks said in a statement Wednesday.
Stecklin declined to speculate on the details of where the hosts would play the Bulldogs if they had to earn spots for two seasons. But Stricklin presents an opportunity for the Jaguars, who need room to play several home games.
NFL teams have played in smaller venues in the past due to construction or facility issues. Most recently, the Los Angeles Chargers played at Dignity Health Sports Park, a 27,000-seat Major League Soccer stadium. The team has played there since moving from San Diego until Sophie Stadium is completed before the 2020 season.
Jacksonville doesn’t have the same amount of space. The University of North Florida, which does not sponsor football, has the 9,400-seat Hodges Stadium. 121 Financial Ballpark next to TIAA Bank Field is the home of the Triple-A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. That venue has 6,000 stadium seats, and up to 11,000 can be accommodated in bleachers and berm seating, but it’s unclear if it could be converted for soccer.
But a 90,000-seat venue with luxury boxes and premium seating might require an NFL team to sit 74 miles away from TIAA Bank Field: Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Before the NFL moved the Jaguars to London for those two seasons, Stricklin said he didn’t want to talk with team and league officials about the possibility of keeping the Jaguars at home but in a stadium that could meet their needs. The question is whether the university can logistically accommodate seven Florida home games and the Jaguars’ schedule (minus any London games).
“It was worth talking about,” Stricklin said. There are a lot of Jags fans in Gainesville because of its proximity to Jacksonville.
(Photo: Kim Clement / USA Today)
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