Florida-Georgia Staying in Jacksonville

[Ken_FSU]

The schools and team's boosters ($$$) could care less about The Landing.  I doubt it's existence, or lack thereof, has any impact on the game being hosted here. The only people that might miss it are the students and local yahoos.

Reality is that the absence of the Landing is probably viewed as more of a positive than a negative from the POV of the schools. Only bad things happen at the Landing.

Does anyone have any further details about the extension? JBJ story is behind a paywall. How many years are we talking about here?

Sorry for the paywalled article.

Zero details in terms of duration or terms, just that the City wasn't happy with the last renewal coming down to the wire, and they're very close to proactively extending well beyond 2021.

[FlaBoy]

This decision has 0% to do with the Landing.

UF wants to keep it here. I would say most with UGA do as well. Kirby Smart has insinuated that he wants to get rid of it because it takes a recruiting weekend from him. It would be MASSIVE news if they could extend this for a longer period that will probably outlast ol' Kirby.

[CityLife]

The schools and team's boosters ($$$) could care less about The Landing.  I doubt it's existence, or lack thereof, has any impact on the game being hosted here. The only people that might miss it are the students and local yahoos.

Reality is that the absence of the Landing is probably viewed as more of a positive than a negative from the POV of the schools. Only bad things happen at the Landing.

Does anyone have any further details about the extension? JBJ story is behind a paywall. How many years are we talking about here?

Sorry for the paywalled article.

Zero details in terms of duration or terms, just that the City wasn't happy with the last renewal coming down to the wire, and they're very close to proactively extending well beyond 2021.

Read it earlier, but can't re-read now. Doesn't it say that the City is going to be increasing its payout to both schools as part of the extension?

[Papa33]

I have not read it, but of course they are asking for an increased payout.  I also think they could ask for anything and the mayor would agree to it, no questions or negotiation required.

On a hypothetical note, suppose the city divests itself of TIAA Bank Field . . . is it really a city asset or a liability?  What if the Jags owned the stadium?

[CityLife]

I have not read it, but of course they are asking for an increased payout.  I also think they could ask for anything and the mayor would agree to it, no questions or negotiation required.

On a hypothetical note, suppose the city divests itself of TIAA Bank Field . . . is it really a city asset or a liability?  What if the Jags owned the stadium?

There has been quite a bit of posturing (mostly from Georgia) to go 50/50 between Atlanta and Jax, or home and home in Athens/Gville, or rotating all 4 locations. I don't think the Mayor or the City have much of a choice, other than to pay up.

[Tacachale]

I have not read it, but of course they are asking for an increased payout.  I also think they could ask for anything and the mayor would agree to it, no questions or negotiation required.

On a hypothetical note, suppose the city divests itself of TIAA Bank Field . . . is it really a city asset or a liability?  What if the Jags owned the stadium?

There has been quite a bit of posturing (mostly from Georgia) to go 50/50 between Atlanta and Jax, or home and home in Athens/Gville, or rotating all 4 locations. I don't think the Mayor or the City have much of a choice, other than to pay up.

IMO the big threat is Atlanta, and the home-away thing is an idle threat. Regardless of the coaches or some boosters complaining about losing a recruiting weekend, or the site not being neutral, or whatever else, the schools are there for the money. And in the neutral site setup, they get a big payout every year, instead of less money every other year in a home-away setup. But Atlanta has most of the advantages of Jacksonville. Jax's main advantages now are a few thousand more seats and potentially, being more willing to pay out than Hotlanta.

Well, that and tradition, but we know how much the schools care about that.

[JBTripper]

Kirby wants to make it a home-and-home so that he doesn't lose that recruiting weekend every other year. The only thing stopping the schools from making that weekend a recruiting weekend every year is their own mutual agreement to not do that... so my guess is UGA will use that excuse to extract some extra cash out of Jacksonville and the game will remain here.

Florida-Georgia is a big deal for a lot of UGA's big-money, South Georgia boosters. This is "their game" and I don't think anybody in Athens is very serious about taking it away from them.

I hope it never leaves because there's something special about playing in Jacksonville that makes it a unique deal. Atlanta hosts at least two, sometimes 3-5 marquee, neutral-site games every year. Florida-Georgia would be just another game in Atlanta. Down here there is some mystique.

[FlaBoy]

I have not read it, but of course they are asking for an increased payout.  I also think they could ask for anything and the mayor would agree to it, no questions or negotiation required.

On a hypothetical note, suppose the city divests itself of TIAA Bank Field . . . is it really a city asset or a liability?  What if the Jags owned the stadium?

There has been quite a bit of posturing (mostly from Georgia) to go 50/50 between Atlanta and Jax, or home and home in Athens/Gville, or rotating all 4 locations. I don't think the Mayor or the City have much of a choice, other than to pay up.

IMO the big threat is Atlanta, and the home-away thing is an idle threat. Regardless of the coaches or some boosters complaining about losing a recruiting weekend, or the site not being neutral, or whatever else, the schools are there for the money. And in the neutral site setup, they get a big payout every year, instead of less money every other year in a home-away setup. But Atlanta has most of the advantages of Jacksonville. Jax's main advantages now are a few thousand more seats and potentially, being more willing to pay out than Hotlanta.

Well, that and tradition, but we know how much the schools care about that.

ATL is not even a consideration. It is home and home or keep the tradition in Jax. Kirby has gotten a lot of push back from his folks though about wanting to move it to a home and home. He says it is about a recruiting weekend.

[Tacachale]

I have not read it, but of course they are asking for an increased payout.  I also think they could ask for anything and the mayor would agree to it, no questions or negotiation required.

On a hypothetical note, suppose the city divests itself of TIAA Bank Field . . . is it really a city asset or a liability?  What if the Jags owned the stadium?

There has been quite a bit of posturing (mostly from Georgia) to go 50/50 between Atlanta and Jax, or home and home in Athens/Gville, or rotating all 4 locations. I don't think the Mayor or the City have much of a choice, other than to pay up.

IMO the big threat is Atlanta, and the home-away thing is an idle threat. Regardless of the coaches or some boosters complaining about losing a recruiting weekend, or the site not being neutral, or whatever else, the schools are there for the money. And in the neutral site setup, they get a big payout every year, instead of less money every other year in a home-away setup. But Atlanta has most of the advantages of Jacksonville. Jax's main advantages now are a few thousand more seats and potentially, being more willing to pay out than Hotlanta.

Well, that and tradition, but we know how much the schools care about that.

ATL is not even a consideration. It is home and home or keep the tradition in Jax. Kirby has gotten a lot of push back from his folks though about wanting to move it to a home and home. He says it is about a recruiting weekend.

That's what Kirby's saying, but the schools will never go for home and home regardless of what he says. They lose too much money that way - the schools make probably triple in a neutral site every year than they make at home every other year. It's no more than a bargaining chip from Georgia (and perhaps Florida) to squeeze more money out of Jax. Atlanta is the real competition as they could offer pretty much everything Jax does.

[Ken_FSU]

Extended through 2023, potentially through 2025, pending council approval.

Good job from the city getting this buttoned up early.

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2019/10/25/city-announces-florida-georgia-football-game-to.html?iana=hpmvp_jac_news_headline

[KenFSU]

From the T-U story, it sounds like the deal's through 2023, with a city option to keep the game in Jax through 2025.

What I like about this is that it locks the game in during all the major construction expected to take place between the Hart Bridge ramp removals and the Lot J stuff in the next five years.

Welcome to Rockville was a pretty significant casualty to the construction plans, glad it's not going to effect Florida-Georgia.

[Ken_FSU]

Well there's an odd op-ed to read in the local paper.

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/opinion/columns/guest/2023/10/14/jaguars-stadium-renovations-good-time-to-rethink-fl-ga-game-in-jax/71118501007/

[thelakelander]

Very odd position to take against your own community. Also, questionable, considering the amount of cash we're giving UF to consider bringing a campus to town and the amount of money we throw into UF Health Jax annually.

[acme54321]

What a kook.  I bet he's fun at parties.

[Tacachale]

Well there's an odd op-ed to read in the local paper.

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/opinion/columns/guest/2023/10/14/jaguars-stadium-renovations-good-time-to-rethink-fl-ga-game-in-jax/71118501007/

The goal with those things is to get people's attention. Sadly, one thing that gets attention is terrible hot takes.