Not giving up without a fight

Considering the source, this is a helluva quote:

“We know how important this game is. The single most important event that happens in Jacksonville each year is not a Jaguars game, it’s the Georgia-Florida game.”

It’s not from the mayor.  It’s from the president of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“From the first day that Shad Khan purchased the Jaguars, we made it very clear to the universities of Georgia and Florida and the Gator Bowl that our view of those games was 180 degrees different than the previous ownership of the Jaguars,” Mark Lamping, president of the Jaguars, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday. “The previous owners felt the Gator Bowl and the annual Georgia-Florida game was an inconvenience that the NFL team would just as soon not have to deal with. We said from the beginning we feel just the opposite.

That’s not just cheap talk, either.

Lamping said the Jaguars have been planning the Jacksonville project “in earnest” for the past three years and have kept Georgia and Florida in the loop every step of the way. School officials were shown detailed renderings at the most recent meeting in March.

“I can say that we received very positive feedback from both of the universities,” Lamping said. “They were appreciative, first, that we took the time to ask their opinion, and then that we were respectful enough to show them what we were thinking about before going forward.”

What the schools will be more appreciative of, naturally, will be the revenue stream from the game.  Just ask someone who should know.

… Based on the terms of the current contract, which includes an option to extend through 2025, each team makes about $4.5 million a year. UGA typically averages about $4 million in revenue per home game, but would make that only every other year in the case of a home-and-home arrangement with the Gators.

That’s a $25 million difference – $45 million versus $20 million – over a 10-year period. Meanwhile, it actually costs SEC teams about $500,000 to travel to away games. The Jacksonville contract pays all travel costs for both teams.

“It’s significant revenue, I don’t care what your budget is,” McGarity said. “It will always produce more revenue to play a neutral-site game, but you’re also talking about a game that has historical value and a strong television presence.”

McGarity believes that leaving Jacksonville isn’t a hill Kirby Smart is prepared to die on.

“I always respected Kirby’s argument from the perspective of a football coach,” McGarity said. “But decisions have to be made on what’s best for the institution, which takes into consideration all your sports. And Kirby’s not going to leave the University of Georgia because he has to play in Jacksonville. He understands finances. I used to joke with him: ‘We’ll just take $2 million out of a football recruiting.’”

I doubt the math has changed for Josh Brooks.