Jacksonville mayor reveals new contract for Florida-Georgia rivalry

Jacksonville City Council voted unanimously Tuesday evening to approve a contract that would keep the annual Florida-Georgia football game at TIAA Stadium through at least 2023.

The agreement with the city, the University Athletic Association and the University of Georgia Athletic Association has Jacksonville hosting five games, starting with Saturday’s game through the 2023 game and includes a two-year extension option for the 2024 and 2025 games.

“Pleased to see our City Council unanimously approved a new contract that will keep one of our great traditions in #Jacksonville through 2025,” Mayor of Jacksonville Lenny Curry tweeted. “Many thanks to my City Council colleagues, @UF, & @UGA for keeping this rivalry where it belongs”

As part of the agreement, the schools and Jacksonville voted to remove 6,000 temporary seats in the North End Zone of TIAA Bank Field, which means each school will be compensated $400,000.

TIAA Stadium has a capacity of 67,814 fans and is expandable to 82,000. The stadium is the home of the Jacksonville Jaguars but is owned by the city.

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart voiced his displeasure on Tuesday with the neutral site location of the game.

“I don’t concern myself with things that I don’t control,” Smart commented on the location of Georgia’s upcoming game with Florida. “All I will ever say is that the home atmosphere we have is incredible and the ability to bring recruits in is big. And if I knew every year we would have home games like we’ve had this year it probably would be less of an issue.”

He continued.

“But it’s an issue when you don’t have what might be your biggest rival, and you don’t have an opportunity to bring official visits in and recruits in every other year. Because you wouldn’t have it every year anyways. It certainly is valuable in the time when kids are deciding an early signing date [in] December and they’re enrolling in January. Those are the most critical weekends you can have to get kids on campus. So I stand by the fact that we miss out on one of those opportunities every other year and everybody else in the country doesn’t.”

Georgia and Florida have played their rivalry game every year at Jacksonville as a neutral site rivalry since 1933. Despite being held in Florida, the location is a good distance away from Gainesville and tickets to the game are divided evenly to preserve the neutral atmosphere.

Florida takes on Georgia in TIAA Stadium on Saturday at 3:30 p.m EST.