Admittedly 'biased' Tim Tebow shares very personal reason to keep Cocktail Party in Jacksonville

It has been a topic of much debate, moving the Cocktail Party matchup between Georgia and Florida to a home-and-home series and away from its longtime home in Jacksonville. And now Tim Tebow, the star former Florida quarterback, has weighed in on “The Paul Finebaum Show.”

Naturally, the Jacksonville-area native and former Gator is in favor of keeping the game in Jacksonville. He does understand the recruiting desires of Georgia head coach Kirby Smart for moving the game. But for Tebow, there’s just too much tied up in northern Florida.

“First, I gotta start this conversation by saying I’m coming at it already being biased,” Tebow said. “I’m from here. I love the game here. My parent’s first date was this game, a long time ago. I have a lot of amazing memories. I think, to defend this game and one of the reasons it should be played, is that it’s one of the rarest games in sports. There’s not many things like it. You’ll see tomorrow, for all those people that are watching for the first time, it’s literally split down the middle. Red and black. Orange and blue.”

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Tebow did acknowledge the Red River Rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma as being similar, but those are two games among hundreds in a college football season.

And Tebow also hit on the recruiting point that Smart has used to pitch the home-and-home.

“I think something else that’s really relevant, too, is how much Florida and Georgia recruit this north Florida area. All of them are competing for so many of the kids in the massive high schools that are here. But this is a fertile ground for amazing athletes. And they’re competing for a lot of the big ones right here right now. So I also think winning this game here plays into that, as well,” Tebow said.

Smart made his case during the bye week, acknowledging there are benefits to the neutral site

Smart made his point of view on the game abundantly clear ahead of this year’s edition.

“There’s really quality benefits to both,” Smart said last week. “… I enjoy the pageantry of going down there and playing. I enjoyed playing there as a player, I enjoy tradition… 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. 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. But, I also think there’s a financial factor that factors into that, with having the game there, and being able to make more money for the university, possibly, there.

“You have to weigh both those and make really good decisions. But, I promise you, I have not thought about that one second since the start of the season. And I’m not going to think about it for one second, because I got to worry about coaching our team, and I’m not fighting the fight in the public forum. I’m not fighting the fight for anything. I’m worried about our team and us playing well and how we block and tackle of what plays we call it how we play special teams. That’s just not a priority for me, where that game is right now.”