Jacksonville, FL — Just over a week before the annual rivalry at TIAA Bank Field, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry has announced an agreement to keep the Florida-Georgia game through 2023. There is an option through 2025, according to Curry.
“This is more than a game, it’s a tradition”, Curry said in a video statement. Last year the economic impact of the game topped $30 million, and Curry promises this year will be bigger than ever.
This agreement, if approved by the Jacksonville City Council, will replace the current agreement beginning with the 2020 game.
The City would compensate each school with $1 million in 2020 and 2021, an increase over the existing $250,000 per school. That payout would increase to $1.25 million in 2022 and 2023. Each school would receive the same travel stipend of $60,000; Georgia receives up to an additional $350,000 due to air travel.
And according to the draft agreement, the City maintains responsibility for temporary seating at TIAA Bank Field.
If the contract is extended through 2025 through a ‘University Option’, both schools would receive a guarantee $1.5 million from the City.
The contract was last updated in 2017, at which time it was set to expire in 2021. Under the prior agreement, a total of $2.75 million in incentives- a $125,000 "signing bonus" and $250,000 annual guaranteed payment for each team- were included. The prior contract also included each team getting an increase in their travel stipend by $10,000- with the cost going up to $60,000.
Friday’s announcement by Mayor Curry indicated that specific details of the new agreement will be finalized in the next few weeks. The contract will need approval of the full Jacksonville City Council.
“We look forward to the continuation of one of the greatest college football traditions in the country - a border states battle between Georgia and Florida,” said UGA J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics, Greg McGarity.“ The extension ensures the historical preservation of the game in Jacksonville which has been part of the national college football landscape since 1933. The City of Jacksonville has once again demonstrated its commitment to this game through significant financial considerations to each school.”
“The Florida-Georgia game is more than a football game, it’s a week-long celebration of two storied programs meeting on a neutral field that has created generational memories for both fan bases. We are appreciative of the partnership we have with the City of Jacksonville and Mayor Lenny Curry to extend our agreement”, said Florida Athletics Director, Scott Stricklin.
This year's game will include a weekend slate of events, called the Bold City Bash featuring an exhibition baseball game between the Gators and Bulldogs at the Baseball Grounds on Friday, November 1st.
Following the exhibition game, country music star Brett Young and other special guests will perform, followed by fireworks. There will also be events on the Flex Field at TIAA Bank Field before the football game on Saturday, November 2nd.
WOKV reported on August 8th that the Mayor’s budget request proposed spending hundreds of thousands of dollars more than prior years, to create a destination in the heart of the Sports Complex.
“All the way from RV City, through the [Daily’s Place] Flex Field, in to the parking lots next to the stadium, out to APR [A. Philip Randolph Blvd.], and incorporating the Baseball Grounds and some of the different things on APR, including private businesses that are in the food and entertainment business, to try to connect them all together in a way that offers that whole area of the Sports and Entertainment District as a location for multiple events,” said Jacksonville’s Chief Administrative Officer Brian Hughes.
Hughes said the intention is to activate this area for several days leading up to the game for both family-friendly activities and nightlife, with everything from live music to street vendors.