Georgia and Florida will continue to play in Jacksonville, Fla., through the 2025 season, as the schools announced on Wednesday.
The two schools put out an official statement on the matter. The contract was set to expire after the 2023 season, but will now see the two sides meet in Jacksonville in 2024 and 2025.
“We are pleased with the decision to exercise the option that will keep the game in Jacksonville for 2024 and 2025,” Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks said. “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 is expected to conduct renovations on its stadium at some point in the future, as outgoing mayor Lenny Curry detailed earlier this month. Curry had said that renovations, which have not yet been finalized, would force the series to be played elsewhere for two seasons.
While Kirby Smart has favored playing this series as a home-and-home, it will continue for at least the next three seasons as a neutral-site game.
“The City of Jacksonville has been a 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.”
Smart has stated that the recruiting benefits of a home game drive his desire for the game to be in Jacksonville.
“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 October. “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.”
Georgia and Florida will meet in Jacksonville, Fla., on Oct. 28 of this year. Georgia has won the last two matchups in the series, with the Bulldogs beating Florida 42-20 in 2022.
Georgia and Florida have meet in Jacksonville every year dating back to 1933. The notable exception came during the 1994 and 95 seasons when the game was played as a home-and-home while the stadium underwent renovations. Florida won both of those contests.
