Thousands of fans are getting ready for Saturday's Georgia-Florida college football game. The annual game between the longtime Southeastern Conference rivals is a huge economic boost for Jacksonville, Florida, and security will be in full force.
Police say the Georgia-Florida game is one of the busiest and biggest weekends when it comes to crowd control and underage drinking. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department and Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco are making sure people are having fun at the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party," but also following the rules.
For many fans, the weekend is about food, football and alcohol. The Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco is making sure the drinks aren't getting into the wrong hands.
"We know that there is a small percentage of people out here that are underage and possessing alcohol beverages," said Lt. Eugene Baker of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco.
Those are the fans Baker and the teams of officers are looking for.
"We look at people, if they got a young appearance, then we'll stop and have a conversation with them and basically see what's going on, ask them for their IDs. This particular event, the chief judge for the 4th Judicial Circuit has went ahead and mandated a $75 penalty for this and what we'll do is issue them a notice to appear," said Baker.
The officers stopped several people, but all of them were of legal age.
"I love that they're out here checking IDs. I think it's very important. It's very important to let the kids, to know what they can or cannot do, and the kids of age, should be able to do the things that they want to do," said Dara Salky.
Baker said drinking underage is a second degree misdemeanor and offenders will have 30 days to pay that ticket.
The game will be played at 3:30 p.m. ET at EverBank Field in Jacksonville. Florida (5-1, 3-1 SEC) is ranked 14th in the polls, while Georgia is 4-3, 2-3.
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