{"id":106703,"date":"2022-10-24T16:46:11","date_gmt":"2022-10-24T16:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/kirby-smart-wants-to-move-georgia-florida-out-of-jacksonville-money-says-otherwise\/"},"modified":"2022-10-24T16:46:11","modified_gmt":"2022-10-24T16:46:11","slug":"kirby-smart-wants-to-move-georgia-florida-out-of-jacksonville-money-says-otherwise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/kirby-smart-wants-to-move-georgia-florida-out-of-jacksonville-money-says-otherwise\/","title":{"rendered":"Kirby Smart wants to move Georgia-Florida out of Jacksonville;  money says otherwise"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>A B C.  Always be &#8216;crootin, as in recruiting.  The mantra of college football, it&#8217;s both strategy and warning, a reminder that if you&#8217;re not out there planning for your future, someone else is planning it for you.<\/p>\n<p>Coaches have a relationship to recruiting that sails right past \u201cobsessive\u201d and deep into \u201chighly problematic.\u201d  The legend of Nick Saban grousing that winning national championships cost him valuable recruiting time is absurd and absurdly on-brand.<\/p>\n<p>Kirby Smart, the reigning national champion, hasn&#8217;t gone that far but he too has invoked the holy crusade of recruiting in taking aim at one of his university&#8217;s cherished traditions: the Georgia-Florida Game.  (Florida-Georgia if you&#8217;re in Gainesville, of course.)<\/p>\n<p>Home games work wonders for recruiting.  The pageantry, the spectacle, the on-site attending to recruits&#8217; every need sells a whole new batch of potential talent on coming to play for good ol&#8217; State U. But teams can&#8217;t host recruits at off-campus games like The Game Formerly Known As The World&#8217;s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.  So, for Smart, playing the game in Jacksonville \u2014 where it has been held since 1933 \u2014 is pretty much pointless.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"caas-figure\">\n<div style=\"\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"caas-img-container caas-img-loader noheight\"><noscript><img alt=\"Oct 30, 2021;  Jacksonville, Florida, USA;  Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart celebrates after defeating the Florida Gators at TIAA Bank Field.  Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/WbSMOaHWkBeqdoe8kHTFbQ--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MA--\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2022-10\/347988d0-5307-11ed-bafa-369e02d07096\" class=\"caas-img\"\/><\/noscript><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><figcaption class=\"caption-collapse\">Georgia head coach Kirby Smart celebrates after defeating Florida at TIAA Bank Field in 2021. Sounds like he&#8217;d rather celebrate this game in Athens every other year.  (Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports)<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m competing all across the SEC, who host recruits at their biggest game,\u201d Smart told &#8220;SEC Now\u201d earlier this summer during SEC media days. \u201cWhen Auburn plays Alabama, guess where the recruits are? When LSU and Alabama play , that&#8217;s where the biggest recruits want to go. It&#8217;s an opportunity for us to bring these kids, who fly in from all over the country \u2014 what game do they want to come see Georgia play? They&#8217;d like to see Georgia play Florida, but they can&#8217;t do that. It&#8217;s very important. Recruiting is very important. I just can&#8217;t get a Florida coach to agree with me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He won&#8217;t get the city of Jacksonville to agree with him.  \u201cI want to see this history and culture and tradition continue,\u201d Jacksonville mayor Lenny Curry told Yahoo Sports.  \u201cThis is a special thing in college football.  The fans know how special it is, and they love it every year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><button class=\"link caas-button collapse-button\" aria-label=\"\" title=\"\" data-ylk=\"elm:readmore;slk:Story continues\">Story continues<\/button><\/p>\n<p>Georgia-Florida (the home team is named first, and Georgia is the home team this year) is one of the most significant games of the city&#8217;s social calendar.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs soon as this game ends, people start making plans for next year,\u201d says Michael Corrigan, president and CEO of Visit Jacksonville.  \u201cHere, the big holidays are Christmas, Thanksgiving and the Florida-Georgia game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Florida head coach Billy Napier has deftly sidestepped the question.  \u201cI want to experience the game first, right?\u201d  he said shortly after Smart lobbed his grenades at Jacksonville.  \u201cI&#8217;d like to see that game in Jacksonville, experience that game before I have an opinion on that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Napier conceded that Smart had some points.  \u201cThe home-and-home obviously would be fantastic,\u201d he said.  \u201cBut there&#8217;s also some tradition there.  There&#8217;s a rivalry there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s also a whole lot of money at stake there.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"caas-figure\">\n<div style=\"\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"caas-img-container caas-img-loader noheight\"><img class=\"caas-img caas-lazy has-preview\" alt=\"JACKSONVILLE, FL - NOVEMBER 02: Florida Gators fans celebrate a touchdown during the game between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Florida Gators on November 2, 2019 at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Fl.  (Photo by David Rosenblum\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/h4VPBp38TZFBOvep2EpYVA--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MA--\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2022-10\/bb66b3e0-5307-11ed-b6fa-31f8539d6bcf\"\/><noscript><img alt=\"JACKSONVILLE, FL - NOVEMBER 02: Florida Gators fans celebrate a touchdown during the game between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Florida Gators on November 2, 2019 at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Fl.  (Photo by David Rosenblum\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/h4VPBp38TZFBOvep2EpYVA--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MA--\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2022-10\/bb66b3e0-5307-11ed-b6fa-31f8539d6bcf\" class=\"caas-img\"\/><\/noscript><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><figcaption class=\"caption-collapse\">Gators fans have the proximity advantage in the annual matchup against Georgia in Jacksonville.  (Photo by David Rosenblum\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<h2><strong>Rivalry has lengthy history and arguments over records<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Nobody is sure of the exact origins of this rivalry.  The schools began playing one another in either 1904 or 1915, depending on who&#8217;s doing the telling.  With the exception of an understandable wartime hiatus in 1943, the schools have played every year since 1926. Jacksonville has hosted the game every year since 1933 with the exception of two years in the 1990s, when the Gator Bowl was demolished and the current stadium built for the then-expansion Jacksonville Jaguars.<\/p>\n<p>In the history of the series, the games have been played at either Athens or Gainesville only seven times.  Georgia leads the matchup with either 53 or 54 wins, depending on who&#8217;s counting the totals, against Florida&#8217;s 44 victories and two ties.  It&#8217;s one of the most important games of the year for both schools, not just because of records or standings, but because of that ineffable college currency of pride.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThousands of young men that grow up in Northeast Florida or Southeast Georgia see that game and experience the excitement.  They say, &#8216;I want to play on that field one day,&#8217;\u201d Corrigan says, then gently redirects Smart&#8217;s complaint.  \u201cIt&#8217;s a huge unmeasurable recruiting tool.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The teams exchange home-field designation every year, and the stadium is divided into quarters, with red and blue alternating around the stadium.  Every game is a sellout.  Given that the stadium is 344 miles from Sanford Stadium and only 74 miles from The Swamp, the area outside the stadium tends to be much more pro-Florida.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Financial benefits for Jacksonville, Gators and Bulldogs<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Hardcore fans begin descending on Jacksonville<strong> <\/strong>early in the week before the game, creating an entire society from scratch in what&#8217;s known as \u201cRV City.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat&#8217;s pretty special,\u201d Curry says.  \u201cThat&#8217;s an experience everyone ought to try.  Fans from both teams set up, sit around, have cocktails, smoke cigars and pick on one another.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On gameday, logistical challenges abound.  The city of Jacksonville spreads over 840 square miles.  The Georgia-Florida game and all immediate related activities take place in exactly 1 square mile.  Combine that with the fact that Jacksonville has seven different bridges \u2014 including a drawbridge \u2014 servicing the game, and you&#8217;ve got a recipe for chaos.<\/p>\n<p>Corrigan estimates that only about 50 percent of people in any given year know where they&#8217;re going to find their seats or parking, and that&#8217;s assuming they have all their faculties about them, never a safe assumption when you&#8217;re talking about TGFKATWLOCP.  (That now-unused \u201ccocktail party\u201d designation came about when Florida Times-Union sportswriter Bill Kastelz observed a drunken fan offering a policeman a drink. This was in the 1950s. Your grandparents knew how to party.)<\/p>\n<p>Smart has groused about the Jacksonville location for years, and before him, Mark Richt did the same.  Certainly it&#8217;s partly because the game is out of their complete control \u2014 and if there&#8217;s one thing coaches can&#8217;t stand, it&#8217;s not being in control \u2014 but the continuing veiled threats to leave always make Jacksonville take notice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny time there are concerns by the head coach, or anyone else at these schools, it&#8217;s important that we stay in communication,\u201d Curry says.  \u201cWe want to let them know how important they are to this city.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Curry has made it one of his guiding missions to keep Georgia and Florida happy;  he had to repair some severely frayed relationships when he entered office in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>The result has been a highly lucrative partnership between the three entities, one that will run through the 2023 game, with options for 2024 and 2025. According to the most recent contract between the city and the schools, obtained by Yahoo Sports, the schools will each receive $1.25 million from the city in 2022 and 2023 for playing the game, and $1.5 million in 2024 and 2025 if the option is exercised, in addition to all ticket revenues.  The city will reimburse each team $60,000 for travel, lodging and gameday expenses, along with an extra $350,000 to Georgia for air travel costs.<\/p>\n<p>This is why the idea of \u200b\u200bmoving the game out of Jacksonville \u2014 or, more to the point, returning it to campuses \u2014 would encounter fierce opposition from within the athletic departments themselves.  Unlike a home-and-home series, where a team draws a check just for playing only every other year, the Georgia-Florida game is a profitable endeavor in each season for both schools.  Plus, when Jacksonville is covering the logistical expenses of running a game, from parking to concessions to cleanup, the universities don&#8217;t have to write that check, either.<\/p>\n<p>The city of Jacksonville has its own financial motivations for wanting to keep the game.  Visit Jacksonville&#8217;s figures indicate that in 2021, Georgia-Florida had a direct economic impact of $21.6 million and a total benefit of $37.6 million when accounting for all spending in and around the weekend.  Fans bought up nearly 33,000 hotel rooms and supported nearly 18,000 jobs.  That&#8217;s a fine little return on investment for a single college football game.<\/p>\n<p>Down the line, change will come to the game, one way or another.  The Jaguars&#8217; lease with TIAA Bank Stadium expires in 2030, and there&#8217;s work underway already on planned improvements.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt some point, we&#8217;re going to have to re-do our stadium, and sooner rather than later,\u201d Curry says.  \u201cThat will completely change the experience for this football game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If Smart continues to push the point, he&#8217;ll likely stand to extract even more concessions from the city after the current contract expires in 2026. But Jacksonville has made it clear: this is tradition, and it will do all it can to keep tradition in-house<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom Southeast Georgia to Gainesville to Florida State University territory, this game has a huge impact on the entire region,\u201d Corrigan says.  \u201cWe want to see it continue here for another 30 to 40 years, at least.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A B C. Always be &#8216;crootin, as in recruiting. The mantra of college football, it&#8217;s both strategy and warning, a reminder that if you&#8217;re not out there planning for your future, someone else is planning it for you. Coaches have a relationship to recruiting that sails right past \u201cobsessive\u201d and deep into \u201chighly problematic.\u201d The &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/kirby-smart-wants-to-move-georgia-florida-out-of-jacksonville-money-says-otherwise\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Kirby Smart wants to move Georgia-Florida out of Jacksonville;  money says otherwise<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":107453,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/napier-discusses-recruiting-during-rivalry-game-against-georgia\/","url_meta":{"origin":106703,"position":0},"title":"Napier discusses recruiting during rivalry game against Georgia","date":"October 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"\r \r For the first time in the series between the two teams, there will be recruits able to attend this years Florida-Georgia game in Jacksonville. Previously both Florida and Georgia had an understanding that neither team would host recruits for the game. However, the NCAA rules state that for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12150,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/future-of-georgia-football-quarterback-position-remains-murky-as-2023-quarterback-recruiting-winds-down\/","url_meta":{"origin":106703,"position":1},"title":"Future of Georgia football quarterback position remains murky as 2023 quarterback recruiting winds down","date":"July 12, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Connor Riley DawgNation Staff@kconnorrileyPosted 3 hours agoWelcome to Good Day, UGA, your one-stop shop for Georgia football news and takes. Check us out every weekday morning for everything you need to know about Georgia football, recruiting, basketball and more.Georgia football quarterback position futureOne of the final puzzle pieces of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.google.com\/pf\/resources\/images\/placeholders\/dawgnationplaceholder.svg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20653,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/cant-get-a-florida-coach-to-agree-with-me-about-moving-georgia-florida-game-on-campus\/","url_meta":{"origin":106703,"position":2},"title":"&#8216;Can&#8217;t get a Florida coach to agree with me&#8217; about moving Georgia-Florida game on campus","date":"July 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Georgia coach Kirby Smart offered some of his strongest comments yet Wednesday about wanting to move the Georgia-Florida football game to the schools' campuses rather than playing it in Jacksonville, Florida, every season.During an interview on SEC Network at SEC media days Wednesday, Smart said having the game in Jacksonville,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21067,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/kirby-smart-renews-complaints-about-facing-florida-every-year-in-jacksonville\/","url_meta":{"origin":106703,"position":3},"title":"Kirby Smart renews complaints about facing Florida every year in Jacksonville","date":"July 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Okay, Kirby ... we get it -- you don't like playing the Florida Gators in Jacksonville.University of Georgia football coach Kirby Smart won't give up on his thinly-disguised hints that he'd like to move the Florida-Georgia game in Jacksonville to home-and-home, or a rotation between Jacksonville and Atlanta. Gene Frenette:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17948,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/recruiting-questions-build-on-offensive-side-of-the-ball-after-georgia-football-loses-out-on-justice-haynes\/","url_meta":{"origin":106703,"position":4},"title":"Recruiting questions build on offensive side of the ball after Georgia football loses out on Justice Haynes","date":"July 18, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Stunning or shocking aren't strong enough descriptors for the decision made by Justice Haynes on Sunday. The long-time Georgia running back target committed to Alabama.Haynes' was a legacy prospect \u2014 his father Verron made one of the most iconic plays in UGA history \u2014 at a position Georgia has developed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":108366,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/georgia-florida-ohio-state-penn-state-ready-for-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":106703,"position":5},"title":"Georgia-Florida, Ohio State-Penn State ready for war","date":"October 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"\r \r Just when you think the college football slate is in for a light weekend exiting October, that's when the greatest sport in the world surprises us. Week 9 predictions are in, highlighted by Georgia's rivalry matchup with Florida and two tilts involving nationally-ranked teams \u2014 Tennessee's prime-time showdown\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/z.e9PrIgRSqrYsEA78uM8w--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD04MDA-\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2022-10\/f7df5030-5306-11ed-aef6-0588c901bdff","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106703"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106703\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}