According to a report from Brett McMurphy of the Action Network, the Florida-Georgia game is moving from Jacksonville to Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2026 and Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium in 2027. The annual Halloween showdown will return to Jacksonville in 2028.
UGA head coach Kirby Smart confirmed McMurphy’s report on today’s SEC coaches conference call.
Smart said, “It’s been talked about and debated for a long time, for a while, since we’ve known the Jacksonville renovation was going to occur and I think the parties involved did a great job managing it and I think Jacksonville did a great job stepping up and making it worthwhile for both universities and I’m excited about the opportunity to play at two different locations. That’ll be unique and maybe we learn from those two experiences.”
This border rivalry game has been played in Jacksonville since 1933 with only two exceptions. When the city landed the NFL’s Jaguars franchise, the Gator Bowl (now known as EverBank Stadium) had to undergo renovations ahead of the team’s inaugural campaign in 1995.
Therefore, the 1994 game was played at The Swamp in Gainesville and it was in Athens in 1995. Florida crushed Georgia by a 52-14 score in 1994, as Steve Spurrier improved his record to 5-0 against the Bulldogs.
Then in ’95, the Gators went into Sanford Stadium and blasted UGA, 52-17, setting a record for the most points scored against the Dawgs by an opponent in Athens.
When asked why Florida chose to score another TD with 1:21 remaining, Spurrier told reporters, “We wanted to hang half a hundred, and we did. We talked about it all week because we heard no one had ever done that before.”
During his dynastic 12-year tenure at Florida that included seven SEC championships, Spurrier compiled an 11-1 record against Georgia. The Gators went 21-6 versus UGA from 1990-2016, but the Bulldogs have won three in a row and six of the last seven in this bitter rivalry.
UGA leads the all-time series 55-44-2.
“Look, Kirby and I probably both agree that it would be awesome to play a home and home. But we also know that there’s a tremendous amount of revenue created by having this in a neutral site, right? So, money makes the world go round,” Florida HC Billy Napier said Wednesday on the SEC coaches conference call.
“And certainly, the amount of revenue, there’s a significant difference in the revenue that’s generated. So, we play in Jacksonville. There is a historical context to that, but there’s also a revenue component as well and I think the neutral sites will present those same revenue opportunities and that’s ultimately why the decision was made.”
As of early Wednesday afternoon, Georgia was listed as a 16.5-point favorite for Saturday’s matchup vs UF. The total was 52 points, and the Gators were anywhere from +525 to +580 on the money line.