Georgia-Florida staying in Jacksonville through 2025

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - The Georgia Bulldogs and Florida Gators will keep their annual football game at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Florida through the 2025 season.

The schools will formally notify the city of Jacksonville of their decision this week.

UGA J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Josh Brooks said, “We look forward to discussions that I’m sure will continue over the next couple years exploring all the options for 2026 and beyond. We continue to be appreciative of the working relationship we have with the University of Florida and the City of Jacksonville.”

Jacksonville has hosted the game between the Bulldogs and Gators since 1939 except for 1994 and 1995, when TIAA Bank Field was being built. the 1994 and 1995 games were held on the University of Florida and UGA campuses. The teams have met every year since 1944 following a one-year interruption for World War II.

TIAA Bank Field is roughly a five-and-a-half hour drive from Sanford Stadium in Athens and a one-and-a-half hour drive from Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida.

The game is traditionally in late October or early November. This year’s meeting will be held Oct. 28.

The beginnings of the rivalry are disputed. Georgia first played a school known as the University of Florida in 1904, winning 52-0. However, that school was not the modern University of Florida and was instead one of its direct predecessors. According to the Gators, the rivalry began in 1915.

The Gators failed to score a point in the rivalry until 1926 when the Bulldogs won 32-9 in Athens. The first game hosted in Jacksonville was held the next year, which the Bulldogs won 28-0. The Gators’ first win in the series came the next year.

The game called “the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” or the “War for the Oar” is often a deciding factor for the SEC East title,

Georgia leads the series 55-44-2, per the University of Georgia.