JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — There is no on-site evidence of the impending renovation of the stadium that houses Jacksonville’s NFL franchise and, once a year, the Georgia-Florida game. There are no cranes to be seen on the landscape. No excavators or construction barrels either.
Behind the scenes, though, there’s a different type of construction going on, and it’s fairly intense at the moment. Representatives of the Jacksonville Jaguars, who are nearing the end of a 30-year lease for the stadium known this year as EverBank Stadium, are trying to build a case for the City of Jacksonville to chip in on a nearly billion-dollar renovation of the whole area.
In the middle of all that sits the two universities that really made this town synonymous with football. Georgia and Florida have conducted their annual rivalry on the same 10-acre plot of land on a big bend of the St. Johns River every year but three since 1933 (1943, 1994-95).
Two questions, though, loom large for those distinguished institutions: One, what are they going to do during what’s expected to be a two-year build? And, two, do they continue to play here after the renovation is completed, which is planned to be for the 2028 season?
Right now, the schools don’t have an answer.
“We’re expecting in ‘26-27 that the stadium will not be available,” Georgia Athletic Director Josh Brooks said Friday. “So, the University of Georgia and the University of Florida are looking at all our options for those two years, and that’s our focus right now. I can’t speculate on 2028 and beyond.”
There’s a lot to work out. The city’s contract with the schools – extended last spring – expires in 2025. Meanwhile, the Jaguars’ 30-year lease from the city expires in January 2030. To say the situation is complicated doesn’t do it justice.
Mike Weinstein, a longtime political figure in this neck of the woods, is serving as the city’s liaison to the Jaguars. He was asked Tuesday to brief the City Council on the progress of negotiations. He reported that the two sides held their first bargaining-table, sit-down five weeks ago.
“To give you a sense of the process, there were 14 of us the meeting. Twelve of the 14 were lawyers,” said Weinstein, himself a lawyer. “That will give you a sense of how complicated this is going to be as we move forward.”
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
On a couple of very important points, though, both sides agree. They want this to get done and are absolutely certain it will. To be clear, having Georgia and Florida continue to play their game here each year is a big part of the equation.
“We know how important this game is,” Mark Lamping, president of the Jaguars, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in May. “The single most important event that happens in Jacksonville each year is not a Jaguars game, it’s the Georgia-Florida game.”
The city claims that the annual Halloween weekend event between the schools produces a local economic impact of about $30 million. That’s why Jacksonville has sweetened its pot for the two schools with every contract that has been brokered.
The stadium, which seats 64,428 for home games, is expanded to accommodate about 80,000 for the Georgia-Florida game. The agreement with the schools allows them to split the gate. All travel accommodations and lodging are paid for by the city as well. On top of that, each team receives a guarantee. It went from $250,000 each to $1 million each in 2020, and that increased to $1.25 million for 2022 and ‘23.
All told, each university currently walks away with about $4.5 million with virtually no expenses. When it comes to the future of their matchup – and both sides agree it will continue on the other side of SEC expansion – Georgia and Florida have to weigh that against the projected finances of a home-and-home arrangement.
Generally, UGA nets about $2.5 million over two seasons in a typical SEC home-and-home arrangement. That’s based on the school clearing about $3 million on a home game and losing about $500,000 traveling to away games.
Compare that with the $9 million it will net over two seasons playing in Jacksonville, and Georgia is looking at a $6.5 million budget shortfall over that period.
That makes what Georgia and Florida decide to do during Jacksonville’s construction so intriguing. The schools very easily could accept the financial losses and play home-and-home in 2026-27. Coach Kirby Smart certainly would be a proponent of that as he’s spoken often about the frustration of losing a home recruiting weekend every other year.
But another option appears to be gaining traction. That would be each school playing its home game at a neutral site in its respective state during the two-year period of Jacksonville’s construction.
It’s possible that the schools could broker one-year deals that would net them roughly the same financial terms during the two interim reasons. For instance, Georgia could play the 2026 game in which it is the home team at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The next year, Florida could host the Bulldogs in Orlando, Tampa or even Miami, depending on what’s available and the ability to accommodate.
Another option to consider would be raising ticket prices for the team’s respective home games. Georgia currently has one of the more affordable ticket prices in the SEC for games at Sanford Stadium at $75 each (not including the donation required to purchase them). But even if the Bulldogs doubled that price, that wouldn’t make up the budget shortfall.
Not surprisingly, the schools are keeping their cards close to their chests at the moment.
“Right now, we’ve got a team at Georgia and Florida has a team whose job it is to look at potential neutral sites, gather information and get together in the offseason and discuss options,” Brooks said. “Maybe by the spring we have some options to discuss. There is no timetable for a decision. We’re on a fact-finding mission right now.”
Regardless of what happens in the interim, everybody in Jacksonville fully expects Georgia and Florida to come back after construction is completed. The design that the Jaguars and its engineers have planned has both its NFL and college football fans in mind.
Renderings that have been shared show a state-of-the-art facility resembling SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles surrounded by retail/commercial development like the one the Braves enjoy at The Battery Atlanta. Built upon the foundation of the existing stadium, the Jacksonville design includes a fabric covering that extends over the seating areas to provide shade and shield spectators from the elements.
In exchange for the new digs, the Jaguars would agree to remain in this Northeast Florida port city for decades to come. The city’s hope is that another 30-year lease would keep the NFL franchise here through 2060. Jacksonville’s plan is for Georgia-Florida to continue at least as long.
“At the end of this we will have a new facility and if everything works out, also a brand new lease,” Weinstein told the City Council. “Also, we would look to do the Florida-Georgia contracts, update them. They run out in 2025. And the Gator Bowl lease, that basically runs out in the next couple of years as well. The package that’s in front of you in a few months hopefully will include all the pieces.”
The expectation is that Georgia-Florida will continue to be one of the pieces. It’s just going to be a while before it gets figured out.
“At the end of the day, it will be what’s best for the University of Georgia,” Brooks said. “That’s at the forefront of our decision. But we’ve got time; there’s no rush. Twenty-four and ‘25 will be in Jacksonville. We’ll learn more about the construction schedule soon enough, but we are planning as if the games won’t be in Jacksonville in ‘26 and ‘27.”
Beyond that, nothing is certain. Smart is on record saying he doesn’t like giving up a weekend of official visits every other year to play Florida in Jacksonville. Whichever school is the designated home team in given year – that’s the Gators in 2023 – is permitted to provide a limited number of tickets to recruiting prospects to attend. But NCAA rules prevent school officials from interacting with them and, of course, they’re unable to view the on-campus facilities and amenities.
Coming off back-to-back national championships and seven consecutive top-5 finishes in national recruiting rankings, it’s hard to argue that those parameters have held back Georgia.
Meanwhile, as one of only three regular-season matchups in FBS that pit annual rivals at a fixed neutral-site location, Georgia gets tremendous exposure from the game every year.
And then, of course, there’s the money. Smart is scheduled to make $112.5 million over the next 10 years, and a USA Today study determined that Georgia annual recruiting budget is the highest in college football.
Those who have attended the game longest in Jacksonville think it’d be a shame to give up the gig.
“The Georgia-Florida game is one of – if not THE – greatest tradition in college football,” said Robert “Bob” Gregory, a retired captain in the U.S. Navy who was stationed for years at Naval Air Station Jacksonville. “I have heard several times coach Smart might like to make the game a home-and-home series. That would make it a ‘ho-hum’ event and just another football game.”
