Georgia-Florida Game to Stay in Jacksonville
Just days before the Georgia Bulldogs and the Florida Gators will meet in Jacksonville, Florida, for the yearly renewal of the "World's Largest Cocktail Party," the mayor of Jacksonville announced that the rivalry game would stay in Jacksonville for the near future.
Lenny Curry took to Twitter to share the news with a statement.
"Pleased to see our City Council unanimously approved a new contract that will keep one of our great traditions in Jacksonville through 2025. Many thanks to my City Council colleagues, [University of Florida], and [University of Georgia] for keeping this rivalry where it belongs."
All three sides came to an agreement to keep the game in Jacksonville following years of speculation and doubt as to whether the city of Jacksonville was hosting the game on borrowed time following the numerous comments from Kirby Smart about how the neutral site game is a disadvantage when it comes to recruiting.
Smart readily points out that the game with Florida is the loss of a home game every other year as the two sides take turns being considered the "home team."
When asked about the issue last week during the bye week Smart reiterated his prior held opinion.
All I’ll every say is the home atmosphere we have is incredible and the ability to bring recruits in is big. If I knew every year, we’d have home games like we’ve had this year, it would probably would be less of an issue, but it’s an issue when you don’t have what might be your biggest rivalry and you don’t have the ability to bring official visits in and recruits in every other year because you wouldn’t have it every year anyway. It certainly is valuable in the time when kids are deciding in the early signing date in December and enrolling in January. Those are the most critical weekends you can have to get kids on campus. I stand by the fact that we miss out on one of those opportunities every other year and everybody else on the country doesn’t.”
The new contract will keep the game in Jacksonville through 2025 and potentially longer depending on the deal
You May Also Like:
Scouting Report: Who is Aliou Bah?
ESPN Pinpoints Georgia's Biggest Strength
Join the community
Follow Brooks Austin on Twitter: @BrooksAustinSI
Subscribe to our YouTube Page HERE
You can follow us for future coverage by clicking "Follow" on the top right-hand corner of the page. Also, be sure to like us on Facebook @BulldogMaven & follow us on Twitter at @BulldogsSI.
