One of the arguments I see frequently marshaled against the Georgia-Florida game remaining in Jacksonville is that by allowing it to be played there, we’re depriving the Georgia economy of funds our fan base spends going to the game.
What that really boils down to is a complaint about Athens’ economy specifically — at least I think it does, because last time I checked, St. Simons was still located in this state.
A roughly $600,000 project to improve drainage in the Pier Village district on St. Simons Island will get underway in November, immediately following the last major event of the 2018 tourist season, county commissions decided Tuesday.
The project to improve the flow of stormwater and increase retention capacity will kick off after the Oct. 27 Georgia-Florida college football game in Jacksonville, an annual event that draws thousands of mostly Georgia Bulldog fans to the island for that weekend. [Emphasis added.]
South Georgia essentially gets one game a year. Evidently that’s too much for some folks.
Get The Picture 
But Senator, dontcha know they still haven’t rebuilt all that property that got destroyed that night!
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Don’t pretend to be a shill for south Georgia. You have mocked Hahira’s beautiful beachfront property on multiple occasions.
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I live on St. Simons. It is absolutely one of the busiest weekends of the year. The only other event that even comes close is the RSM golf tournament. During Georgia Florida we go to the grocery store on Wednesday and then try not to leave the house Thursday through Saturday. I had people calling me asking if they could stay with us over Georgia Florida weekend before we’d actually purchased our property.
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So. . . Got any rooms left for this year??? 🙂 Asking for a friend. . .
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You oughta Airbnb that thing for those occasions. Make you some side money.
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Any strategy that keeps gators out of Georgia works for me. I don’t want them in Atlanta (or Athens) ever. The peach bowl is ok I guess.
The “you get to play in Atlanta every other year” would actually be a recruiting bonanza for the gators.
Whip their ass in Jax every fall and beat them in recruiting down there too.
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Love Saint Simons, but it’s good to see they no longer expect us to return for the Tax Slayer Bowl.
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Its a tough choice. Play in Jax (not a great place imo) every year, great tradition and alumni in S GA get a closer game, but lose a home game every other year and not be able to play Clemson or ND or another big school frequently.
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On your final clause: UGA realizes more money playing in Jax every year than it does with a home game every two years; and we still manage to play Clemson/Notre Dame type schools most of the time. We’ve only had 3 seasons from ’06 to ’20 without a P5 OOC game beyond Tech.
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Excellent point
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Don’t confuse people with facts.
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In the last ten years, Georgia has won four games and Florida six. In the last five years, Georgia has won two games and Florida three. The tide in the series has shifted back towards at least parity and, in my opinion, we’re about to run off another two or three wins at least before Florida gets back into the thing. The horribly competitive disadvantage of playing at [Insert Name Of Jaguars Stadium Here] seems to be something Georgia can get over again. Funny how that works.
You can have my St. Simons and Cocktail Party vacation when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
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Keep the game in Jax, allow the “home” team to host recruits.
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If it’s really about south Georgia economics, then hold the game in Valdosta.
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It’s about the payoff from the City of Jacksonville. If the kickbacks ever stop the game will go to home and home and the folks on St Simons and in South Ga will be told to piss off. If Valdosta can cough up more money than Jacksonville I’m sure McGarity would be all ears.
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I see what you did there. Well played.
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BINGO!! DING, DING, DING!!!
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all ears…..me likeee.
Please people what the hell is wrong with a long weekend at the beach in late October. Keep the tradition and just let the bitchers bitch.
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The problem here will always be recruiting, not money. Georgia and Florida make more money playing in Jax than they do at home, so they don’t care about the economic impact on Athens and Gainesville. Funny how that works.
Florida loves playing in Jax because for them, it’s like a defacto home game. No matter how the spin is spun, playing in Jax every year is a defacto extra road game for the Dawgs. It’s a variable that matters, especially from a competative standpoint, because sometimes you lose road games even if you’re the better team. How many times have we seen that happen since 2002? Well, we’ve seen it happen in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2014, 2015, and 2016. Those are all games we can charitably say we should’ve won. Playing in Jax was very much a variable as to why we didn’t.
There are two fair solutions to this problem: Go Home and Home. Simple. Direct. And for those who cry, “Tradition!” well, the Iron Bowl has only become better by going Home and Home. This benefits the home towns of the universities and will lead to more competitive parity in the long run.
The other fair solution is: Play at Megatron’s Butthole in Atlanta every other year with a twist: Florida is the “home” team hosting recruits in Atlanta and Georgia is the “home” team hosting recruits in Jax. It’s a win-win that works for everyone, and if you don’t think both we and the Gators stand to make MORE money from playing in both Atlanta and Jacksonville, well, you must have been a playoff detractor, too. Meaning you lack common sense.
Staying in Jax and only Jax is untenable. Better to address the issue now than let it linger.
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The reason the schools have agreed not to have recruits in Jacksonville is that the coaches know it’s the most important game on the schedule and don’t want the distraction of setting up to recruit. If Kirby wanted to have recruits in Jax, the AD would jump as high as it took to make it happen.
It is about money and tradition. I personally don’t want to see the venue changed (that’s from someone who doesn’t go anymore).
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Smart has made statements that it hurts recruiting. However the agreement has been in place since Richt, and I could see him viewing it as such.
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I don’t see how they can make the WLOCP recruiting friendly. Both teams stay in the suburbs and bus to the stadium as if it’s a road game. Coaches in particular would have to show up a few more hours before to entertain families. It seems like a logistical nightmare to have the full recruiting apparatus for the game.
While I think the game atmosphere would definitely be positive for recruiting, everything else around it seems to me to be a drawback and not worth the effort.
It would also take another 100-200 tickets away from people who have had those tickets potentially for decades or from the student allotment.
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So you want the game played at Grant Field when in ATL?
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That the Joke by the Coke. Megatron’s Butthole is fairly obvious, as from the top down view, The Benz looks like a robot sphincter.
Get your stadium names straight. 😉
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I like the Benz….Grant Field, not so much.
Megatron played for GT…I’m not into robot rears.
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Megatron was a robot long before he was a football player. Doesn’t matter what you’re into or not. The Benz has the unfortunate distinction of looking like a giant metal sphincter.
Maybe that’s why Arthur chose that stupid design (and all of the problems that came with it) instead of the superior “Solarium” design which would’ve been the first retractable roof stadium to retract the entire roof and not just panels over the field, thus creating a true outdoor stadium where grass could grow? Maybe, like Cosmo Kramer, he’s an Ass-Man? We may never know.
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A fully retracting roof with natural grass would have been so much better.
But if you make it too good, nobody will want to replace it in 20 years.
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A few engineering flaws resulting in leaks will take care of that.
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Too bad the Big Tit is gone…
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You are cherry picking games to sell your point. How then do you explain the fact that even with the ’90’s and early 2000’s UGA still leads the all time series? How ever in the world did Georgia beat UF in 1985 when the Gators were ranked #1? Playing in Jacksonville is not giving Florida any significant advantage.
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Both teams have comparable travel times to Jacksonville. Both teams stay equal distance from the stadium and bus in. Neither team hosts recruits. The tickets are split half and half.
It’s hard for me to see how UF has the logistical advantage.
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I don’t get complaining about our home schedule and then lobbying for this game to stay in Jacksonville. Florida is one of, if not the, premier opponents on our schedule every year and we could host them in Athens but we don’t. And if south Georgia needs a game every year, can’t they go to Gainesville every other year? Hell, Auburn’s not that far either. It’s not like Jacksonville is a home game so what’s the difference? You can still party in St. Simons and then trek the extra hour to get to Gainesville.
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NOBODY wants to willingly go to Gainesville, FL
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Agreed, agreed, agreed. There isn’t a lot of logical consistency in bitching about our home schedules and then turning around and insisting that this game stay in Jacksonville.
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You’ve obviously never driven through Starke, it puts Ludowici to shame…
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Fl Ga in Jacksonville? “Run Lindsay Run!” And if Tom Clancey can still sell Jack Ryan novels 5 years after his death why can’t Larry Munson call a few games this year? How many other radio announcers do you know that resulted in your remembering the exact time of day, surroundings, circumstances, and feelings you had even after decades? Hell, I remember where on the rug I was sitting during Hershel’s first TB description by Larry. Bill Bates became a traffic cone. “He’s running over people” then a pot hole…..Larry Munson…radio sales probably decreased in Ga when he died.
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I’ve come to accept that it should remain in Jacksonville because of tradition and the fact that it is pretty damn fun. I look at this debate as no different than Arkansas fans fighting over Little Rock or (20 years ago) Bama fans fighting over Legion Field in Birmingham……
Except that Legion and War Memorial are complete dumps in landlocked cities while we’re arguing about playing in an NFL stadium on the damn beach. Don’t move it. Don’t ever move it.
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Look, the event is Jacksonville is to a LOT of South GA people the only time they dont have to drive 5-6 hours to see the dawgs. My wife and I celebrated our honeymoon in Jax… (win, win situation)….. we go to Amelia Island on Sunday and stay till Sunday with golf, shopping, the beach, and the game as part of our anniversary trip. The game in JAX is MUCH MUCH more to many many people than most realize, and when the dawgs got the CITY OF JAX to come straight to Athens to pick us up, its no different a 2 hr flight than to go to Mizzou or Knox, or Lexington, or anywhere else a road game…. KEEP THE GAME IN JAX!!!!
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Yes 2 hr flight, Florida is a 2hr bus ride, advantage UGA.
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My objection to the WLOCP game being played in JAX is simple: It gives FU an advantage and puts Georgia at a disadvantage every other year. The Dawgs only get 3 SEC home games in even numbered years. In those same even numbered years FU gets 4 home games plus the game in JAX, which is really another home game. The Dawgs have a really good winning percentage at Sanford Stadium. Why would we voluntarily give up that advantage to play somewhere away from there? The answer: $$$$. It sickens me that those in power at my university sold out like that. They placed money over winning and it puts the Dawgs team behind the 8-ball every other year. That doesn’t mean that sometimes the Dawgs don’t overcome the disadvantage but our football team should never have to overcome disadvantages created by their own university.
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How is Jax a home game for Florida, but a road game for Georgia?
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Do you not understand the 3 SEC home games in even numbered years thing? I don’t care about Florida. The Gators can go to hell. I care about Georgia and only getting 3 home conference games every other year puts the DAWGS at a disadvantage. Georgia wins something pretty close to 80% of its games in Sanford Stadium. Georgia only wins about 70% of its road games. That’s about a 10 point differential against the Dawgs when playing away from Sanford. So why would you ever do that? Plus, in even numbered years when Georgia only gets 3 SEC home games everybody else in the East (UT, Mizzou, etc.) except FU is getting 4 SEC home games. That’s a disadvantage against the whole damn division. Georgia wins (all-time) less than 60% of its games played in JAX and even a lot lower percentage the last 30 years or so. So why play there when you can
Play where you win almost 80% of the time. The answer: money. And that is a shitty reason.
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*including Florida is getting 4 SEC home games
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You’re still counting the game as a home game for Florida, but away for Georgia. There’s no reason to do that.
And part of the significant advantage for UGA in Sanford stadium is that we play half our games against cupcakes. If we beat Austin Peay by 50 and lose to Auburn by 3, well that works out to outscoring our opponents by 24 points at home. That sounds awesome. But you’re not looking at apples and oranges.
Changing the WLOCP to a home and home would mean that UGA would play UF at home every other year, where we would presumably have a small advantage, and play them away every other year, where we would presumably have a small disadvantage. Or, we could play them in JAX every year, where there is no home/away advantage to be had. It’s a wash.
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Forget Florida. 3 is less than 4. Look at the schedules. Georgia only has 3 SEC home games in even-numbered years because the WLOCP is played in JAX. All the other SEC East teams have 4 SEC home games in even numbered years. Only Georgia has 3. That is a disadvantage against every other SEC East team, not just FU.
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