Josh Brooks shares latest on Georgia-Florida in Jacksonville
GREENSBORO, Ga. — The location of Georgia-Florida is usually a talking point when athletics director Josh Brooks meets with the media. With announced plans to renovate EverBank Stadium after the 2025 season, the Bulldogs and Gators are going to have to look at options outside the city of Jacksonville, and Brooks was forced to discuss on Friday.
“Well, for the immediate we’ve got to look at other options, whether that’s home-and-home, whether it’s neutral sites. So we’re looking,” Brooks told reporters on Friday at the Georgia Athletics Association Board of Directors meeting. “We’re working with Florida to look at the options for those two years (2026 and 2027) and then beyond that, once that construction’s complete, we’re excited to go back there and see the potential and opportunities to make it a really special game with what they’re talking about doing there [with the stadium]. It looks like it’s going to be an amazing project.”
The Jaguars and city of Jacksonville recently agreed to a $1.4 billion “stadium of the future” to keep the franchise in the small market for another 30 years. The plan, presented at a city council meeting in Duval County earlier this month, is expected to be voted on in late June, and if approved by a simply majority of the 19 members, would advance to NFL owners in October, needing 24 of the 32 votes for final approval.
According to the Associated Press, construction would begin following the 2025 season, forcing the Jaguars to play in front of a limited capacity crowd in 2026. Then, in 2027, the team would be forced elsewhere – all to be back in Jacksonville for 2028.
Conveniently, Georgia and Florida’s agreement with the city of Jacksonville currently runs through 2025. After that, it’s up in the air. Options on the table – at least from fans and those that want to brainstorm – have included neutral sites like Atlanta and Orlando. There’s also the possibility of going home-and-home, as has been desired by Kirby Smart in the past.
“There’s really quality benefits to both,” Smart ahead of a Georgia-Florida matchup in 2022. “You guys, I get it, you want to make a story. You need a story. Everybody wants to talk about it. It’s really not a big debate for me. It’s been made really big by the media because they’ve made it out to be a really big deal. I enjoy the pageantry of going down there and playing. I enjoyed it as a player. I enjoy tradition. I enjoy all those things.
Jacksonville remains an option – and a lucrative one with Georgia revealing an expected ticket revenue of $4.2 million from the game for this coming year – but for 2026 and 2027, it seems the game will be played elsewhere.
“This is something that Florida and Georgia, we lead that on our own,” Brooks said when asked whether Jacksonville was involved in relocation conversations for the two-year stretch. “We’ll talk to them about what’s available, but it’s something where we drive that ship.”
As for when any sort of announcement might be made, Brooks said folks will find out soon enough.
Georgia and Florida have done battle in Jacksonville since 1933 except for a two-year pause in 1994 and 1995. They went to a home-and-home for those two years due to stadium construction in Jacksonville. The Bulldogs hold a 55-44-2 advantage over the Gators all-time.
