Non Special Needs Version of UGA AD Josh Brooks speaking on future of WLOCP

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GREENSBORO — Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks made it clear on Friday that Georgia is keeping all its options open regarding the future of its series with Florida in Jacksonville, Fla.

The city of Jacksonville and the Jaguars agreed to a new $1.4 stadium deal earlier in May that would have renovations completed in time for the 2028 season. But due to the construction, EverBank Stadium would be at a reduced capacity for 2026 and unusable for 2027.

The current contract for the Georgia-Florida series expires after the 2025 season. Following the conclusion of Georgia’s spring athletic board meeting on Friday, Brooks updated how those plans impact the future of the rivalry.

“Well, for the immediate we’ve got to look at other options, whether that’s home-and-home, whether it’s neutral sites,” Brooks said. “So we’re looking. We’re working with Florida to look at the options for those two years and then beyond that excited, 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. It looks like it’s going to be an amazing project.”

Possible neutral sites for the rivalry could be Orlando or Atlanta. A home-and-home series has long been pushed by Kirby Smart, with the idea that Georgia would benefit from the added recruiting weekend every two years.

Georgia revealed the projected ticket revenue for the Georgia-Florida game to be $4.2 million for the 2025 fiscal calendar. The highest revenue home game for Georgia in 2024 in terms of projected ticket revenue would be Auburn, which was listed at $5.24 million per the Georgia athletic budget.

Brooks did add that Georgia and Florida would work together in terms of finding a solution for the future of the rivalry.

“We’ll talk to them (the city of Jacksonville) about what’s available, but it’s something where we drive that ship,” Brooks said.

Construction on the proposed stadium would begin following the 2025 season. The proposed renovated stadium would seat 63,000, but it could expand to 71,500 to accommodate the Georgia-Florida game. The current capacity for EverBank Stadium is 67,838.

Georgia and Florida have met in Jacksonville annually since 1933. The only two years that did not happen came in 1994 and 1995 when the stadium in Jacksonville was being renovated. Florida won both of those games, with the 1994 game being played in Gainesville, Fla., and the 1995 game taking place in Athens.

Georgia has won three straight games in the rivalry series against the Gators. Since Smart became Georgia’s head coach in 2016, he is 6-2 against Florida.

This year’s game will be played in Jacksonville on Nov. 2, with the game starting at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.

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