Christmas may be coming early for Kirby Smart.
The wholesale renovation of the stadium where the Jaguars play would require the team to play its home games somewhere else for two seasons, Mayor Lenny Curry said Wednesday.
Curry said he understands the Jaguars are scouting potential locations in Jacksonville for those home games, which Curry suggested could be in the 2025 and 2026 football seasons.
He said during those two seasons, the annual Florida-Georgia game could be played outside Jacksonville with each school taking a turn hosting the game at its campus stadium.
Should this in fact come to pass, I have two requests. One, I expect Kirby Smart to take full advantage of the recruiting opportunity presented in the season when the Gators come to Athens by signing the greatest class in college football history and two, in the other, the Dawgs need to go down to the Swamp and hang at least half a hundred on those assholes, hopefully with Spurrier in attendance.
That is all.
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UPDATE: Andy Staples ($$) suggests things might not be as obvious as a home-and-home substitute. You get one guess why.
The finances are different in this era than in the mid-90s, though. The deal with the city of Jacksonville has grown so lucrative for both schools that playing on campus would cost each school about as much as it makes from a home game for one of the seasons. Each school currently makes about as much from its half of the gate of the Jacksonville game as it makes from the full gate of an on-campus home game. A similar neutral-site contract might bring in similar money.
So if Jacksonville’s stadium winds up being unavailable for two years, don’t be shocked if the game gets shopped to Atlanta, Orlando, Tampa or Miami. And if one or two of those cities bite, don’t be surprised if the price for Jacksonville to reclaim the series goes up prior to 2028.
If Kirby can’t get his game in Athens under these settings, he’s never gonna get it.
Get The Picture 
I am afraid if this game returns to campus this time it will never go back to Jacksonville.
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Someone needs to float playing it as a two-off in Atlanta and Orlando, with crowds equally split, the 2 years it is not in Jax – this is so obvious I can’t believe “Mr. CFB” hasn’t written the article yet….
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Senator is definitely back, MSM guys are reading comments to his blog again!
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Half a hundred ain’t hardly enough….
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Why do anything half assed? Roll the scoreboard over in that shithole cesspool.
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Like the cut of your jib, Slivovitz!
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Not going to lie, would like a little pay back in the Swamp for what they did in Sanford. The Braves clinched the World Series the same day. So on my ‘framed’ AJC Page to of the paper is that ‘f’n’ score.
Senator, the other request might be hard pressed. If this year continues the way it’s going – this class might be the great class in UGA history and almost impossible to match going forward. Long way to go, but that’s the way it’s building right now. 🙂
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2/3 a hundred and finally their first shutout. Hey, a man can dream can’t he?
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College football had a great run. Glad we got to send it out with an historic ass beating.
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Or…they could dump it for two seasons while they rebuild Jax and rotate in OU or Texas sooner. I trust them with nothing regarding this decision.
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I go with whatever Kirby wants.
The Nattys brings in all the money UGA needs
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If Kirby gets Florida between the Hedges even once, he’s never letting the game go back to Jacksonville.
That the mayor doesn’t understand that is either incredibly naive or incredibly stupid.
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The only equivalent “neutral” site on that list is Atlanta. But we can murder them as far behind enemy lines as they like.
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“Sign greatest class ever and hang half a hundred on Florida in the swamp.” Kirby Smart…”Hold my beer.”
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I have no desire to see the Handbags ever appear in Sanford Stadium, period, but this is the only way I will attend the next time we play that trailer park trash. If it’s because Kirby has gotten his wish to end the Cocktail Party, my tickets will go unused for that game.
If we play them in these circumstances, I hope we have a 3rd digit on the Sanford scoreboards. I guarantee you Kirby, Bobo, and Boom will want to drop a nuclear bomb on them in Athens and Hogtown.
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UGA football approves of this message…#FTMF!
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I chuckled at the wording that the Jaguars are “scouting” other locations in Jacksonville, as if there are a bunch of stadiums in town that could support an NFL crowd. I lived in Jax when the Super Bowl was there, and if I remember correctly, one team practiced at UNF’s facilities which seats like 12,000, and the other practiced at the Jacksonville University stadium which seats like 5k. I’m not sure what they expect their “scouting” to find.
Jacksonville has to do something tho. The Jaguars already have one foot in London, if I’m not mistaken I think I read just yesterday that they’re actually going to play 2 games over there next year. I’m guessing the city will end up paying a huge chunk of those renovations.
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The logical default position is on-campus sites (where each school has 90K+ seat stadiums and eager season ticket holders) for 2 years. Instead, we get a bunch of suits searching for a way to make a few extra bucks at the expense of the fans. Hell, maybe we should play in London like the Jags.
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Dublin and Mexico City.
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Should UGA football return double neutral site ass whippings on FU, they may just scream uncle, tap out and never play nor schedule UGA football foevah…#FTMF!
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Ah, the poetry if this ends up in the Benz.
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Yeah, they just need to go ahead and plant a Privet hedge in the Benz!
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“67 in the Swamp” has a nice ring to it…
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Hear me out. Daytona Beach. If they can do it in Bristol…
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It makes no sense to go further into Florida to play it. Who gives a rat’s ass about Orlando or Tampa? That eliminates it as “south GA’s home game,” too. Miami? Even more so.
Would Kirby agree to play in Atlanta for 2 years? Maybe that could work, recuiting wise. Would FL agree? Maybe, if the money was right.
If they cant all agree, home and home is kind of the default, isnt it? And we seem to be flush enough with cash that passing on a neutral site for 2 years (unless we get the deal we want) is nbd. I heard Staples live, and he’s a smug Gator homer under his affable outer layer. He seemed to think neutral site money would be so great, and a bidding war would ensue, that it would end up somewhere (maybe lots of somewheres), but I cant see UGA agreeing to go farther away and deeper into FL, and I cant see FL agreeing to play in MBS every year. Why go anywhere outside those 2 states? It would have to be insane money to make it work. I cant see that happening.
If Kitby wants home and home, this is the ideal chance for him to force it. What’s a couple million or so in lost revenue every other year to a program that is printing money and winning big?
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He was right about one thing. Jacksonville values that game hugely, more so than the Gator Bowl or any NFL game. My cousins there have told me for years that is by far the biggest single weekend in Jacksonville, and they might be willing to cash whip everyone into staying if at all possible.
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Your thoughts are exactly why I believe Kirby plays “bad cop” to the Handbags “good cop” in the negotiations with Jacksonville. As long as Jacksonville makes it financially advantageous to stay there, the game is staying there.
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I completely agree. Kirby’s frequent, pointed comments indicating he’d rather go home and home could be true. Or it could be a brilliant negotiating technique. I guess he learned something from Jimmy Sexton, too.
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I just can’t imagine after his “Jacksonville, Georgia!” comment after the game a few years ago that he wants the game to move permanently.
Money is the fuel for this sport … recruiting and facilities don’t happen without it. The best answer is the simplest answer … money will drive this decision. Nothing more. Nothing less.
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Based on reading between the lines with Josh Brooks, I don’t think he wants the political fallout of ending the Cocktail Party. Kirby isn’t going to flirt with other jobs over this, but he knows the withdrawal he would make on his political capital with large donors who have places on the coast or are South Georgians is huge.
I really don’t think Kirby understands touching this third rail turns a portion of the fan base who have been supporters into “natty or bust” fans.
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