Georgia-Florida game moving to Atlanta? World’s Largest Cocktail Party mulls moving up I-75
UGA fans tailgate during the "World's Largest Cocktail Party," aka the Georgia-Florida game, in the RV parking lot outside Jacksonville's Alltel Stadium. (Brant Sanderlin / AJC)
Tradition defines the Georgia-Florida game as technically being played on neutral turf – “neutral” being Jacksonville and Jacksonville being in Florida.
“No, there are no talks going on,” Evans said Friday. “Gary Stokan of the Atlanta Sports Council has expressed interest in and approached us about moving the game to Atlanta. That’s the extent of it. I wouldn’t call it talks.”
“We’re not asking to move half the games or all of the games to Atlanta,” Stokan said. “We respect tradition. We’re just looking for one of the four.”
Georgia’s contract to play Florida in Jacksonville — a location that has long rankled Dogs fans — expires next year.
“Obviously, we have heard of these kind of discussions before,” Florida Athletics Director Jeremy Foley said. “We have been strong proponents of keeping the game in Jacksonville and that has not changed.”
WHAT’S YOUR OPINION? Should the Georgia-Florida game call the Dome home every four years or is the annual trip to Jax just too much of a tradition to alter in any way, shape or form? Economically speaking, how much of a boost to the metro economy would this be? Would you be as inclined to go to the game in Atlanta?
Related story: Evans dismisses talks of moving Ga.-Fla. to Atlanta
Photos: ATL vs. JAX: Who’d be the better Ga-Fla host? Vote for the better city!
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365 comments Add your comment
Chicago gator
March 20th, 2009
12:19 pm
Why not move the game to real city like Chicago? We would love to host both UGA’s 2nd tier football program and its incestious fan base.
SSI gator
March 20th, 2009
12:20 pm
bbv –
Actually, the money that the island makes is given back having to clean up after all of the pups. On the other hand, the island is nice and quiet after the game.
shane#1
March 20th, 2009
12:20 pm
I don’t see where moving the game to Atlanta every four years would hurt. I must say that watching a football game in a dome is like wearing a rain coat in the shower. I think UGA could make better use of the Dome in the future by scheduling games against teams like OSU and Michigan that don’t want a home and home. They could call it a neutral site. UGA could get the national exposure it has been seeking and the other teams might think they are opening the door to recruiting in Atlanta. Evans could sell it as being beneficial to both teams. Just schedule the game early so you can steal some of Saban’s thunder. Even USC might be intrested in a game like this, their strength of schedule has been killing them in the BCS voting for the past few years.
JJ the Jet Plane
March 20th, 2009
12:21 pm
Yeah why not have the game in downtown Atlanta? It would give another opportunity for “at risk” youth to scalp tix, vandalize autos and mug! I fear nobody would come to the game. Ga. fans know what its like and its too far for Fla. fans to drive.
Joe
March 20th, 2009
12:31 pm
I agree with the Home and Home idea. Makes no sense for neutral sites to be involved. Both home stadiums offer more seats for fans to attend the games.
bbv
March 20th, 2009
12:32 pm
SSI gator- Then we are in agreement the game should be moved. Then again, seeing orange tank tops and jean shorts make me a little uneasy. Maybe it will be to cold in ATL for the gator fans to wear their normal attire. (But their mullets may keep them warm!)
cajdawg
March 20th, 2009
12:39 pm
This debate drives me crazy.
UGA is the fool for allowing this game to be played in Jacksonville, ONE HOUR FROM FLORIDA’S CAMPUS. I don’t care if it is a tradition, blah, blah,blah. It used to be a tradition that doctors used leaches to treat patients and it used to be a tradition that they didn’t wear facemasks during football games….
Also, I don’t care what UGA’s record was in the 60s and 80s or the fact that UF has owned the rivalry recently. This rivalry should go home and home.
Again, stop comparing this game to the Red River game. Dallas is roughly half way between Austin and Norman, NOT ONE HOUR FROM AUSTIN. I think OU has enough sense not to play a their main rivalry game every year one hour from Austin.
The joke is on UGA.
SSI gator
March 20th, 2009
12:40 pm
bbv -
No, don’t move the game – just take all of the trash back to Athens with you.
Krista
March 20th, 2009
12:42 pm
I don’t think it will be the same at the dome and I really don’t think it should be a home and home. In the 90s we had a home and home because the new stadium was being built. It just wasn’t the same. I had to give my extra ticket away. There is something about having half the stadium filled with Georgia Fans and the other half the Gators.
bbv
March 20th, 2009
12:47 pm
SSIgator- I will agree with you about the trash. I’ve quit going to games, because of it.
Cuz
March 20th, 2009
12:50 pm
How about Valdosta? Keep the South Georgia faithful happy. Just think what it would do for the local economy.
I don’t think it is going anywhere but JAX.
Red
March 20th, 2009
12:51 pm
Forget all this neutral site crap. Just play the games in Athens and Gainesville!!!
DawgManiac
March 20th, 2009
12:51 pm
Let’s see—jacksonville, with beaches, 84,000 seat stadium, RV city, great parties, tailgating, atmosphere, 42,000 fans of each team, 3-4 day event, St. Simons blowout parties, …., versus downtown atlanta, no atmosphere, no where to tailgate, bums, thugs and winos everywhere, angry, rude police everywhere, etc. There is no comparison—keep the game in jacksonville! Just get the city to pay UGA another mil or two each year.
Lynn
March 20th, 2009
12:51 pm
Yes, move it to Georgia every four years but not to the Dome. College football is an outdoor sport! Those cool crisp fall afternoons are perfect for football.
SlimG
March 20th, 2009
12:52 pm
Hey Gators, once we stop all the water from flowing down to your precious mussels, we will move all the major sporting events out as well. Everyone can move to the swamp where they belong.
Joe
March 20th, 2009
12:57 pm
Depriving 10,000 fans the right to see a game does matter. The comment from a spokesman for the Atlanta Sports Authority saying he thinks they can overcome the loss of revenue due to the smaller seating numbers means they do not care about those 10,000 fans (difference in stadium seating between Atlanta and Jacksonville). Add in the extra seats playing home and home there is another 10,000 fans that could attend the game each year.
Kem
March 20th, 2009
1:01 pm
It doesn’t matter if it is in GA or Fl …GA IS STILL GOING TO LOSE!!! lol lol lol
Kem
March 20th, 2009
1:02 pm
Enter your comments here
Music City Dawg
March 20th, 2009
1:02 pm
If UGA owned UF instead of the other way around, nobody would be bitching about this. Dome games are the worst. Either keep it like it is, or do a home and home. Although I am sure a home and home wont’ happen for $$$$ reasons.
tom bowden
March 20th, 2009
1:05 pm
Again, move it to home and home, or rotate between Atlanta and Jacksonville. As usual,Gators are singing the same old song: “I never heard the Dawgs complain when they were winning in the ’70’s and ’80’s”. If FL is going to be so damned superior over UGA ad infinitum, then it shouldn’t matter to them WHERE the game is played. It is a matter of FAIRNESS. I live in Jacksonville – how can anyone not say that FL doesn’t have the advantage playing here every year, only 80 miles from their campus? And again, it isn’t a recruiting tool for the Gators – the North Florida media doesn’t give any other school one-tenth of the coverage they give FL. It is a simple matter of FL not wanting another away game.
SlimG
March 20th, 2009
1:06 pm
Atlanta will offer each school 5 times the money Jville can and that will be that. Neither Univ. cares about neutral sites nor who has won the last game. Money talks and welcome to Atlanta! It’s a party town.
UGA Rules
March 20th, 2009
1:07 pm
They should move the game to Athens and make florida play there every year, since they’ve had home games in jacksonville all these years. Georgia has a big disadvantage having to spend all that time flying way down there, when UF only has a 30 minute drive over the day of the game to play. If they move the game to Athens, Georgia will start winning every year with their home field advantage. UGa officials need to get this done soon—I’m tired of losing to florida and their obnoxious fans every year. Plus, my boss is a florida fan and makes my life miserable for weeks after that game.
AltamahaDawg
March 20th, 2009
1:08 pm
jeremy, wouldn’t any advantage of having the game in Athens be just that much of a disadvantage every otehr year in Gainsville. I don’t think J-ville has been a factor in our losses to UF. withe extremely rare exceptions that series is just not prone to upset, the better team wins the game. We just havent been the better team, and if not, then the game being in Athens wouldnt help. However we HAVE won in J-ville with the better team, but now you want to not only have to have the better team, but take it into the swamp every other year? Over the next 10 yrs, we would win more often in J-ville, than in a home and home series. I’m sorry but the Gator’s home field advantage is more of a factor than ours is right now.
cullowheedawg
March 20th, 2009
1:10 pm
Well I’s 67, been going to Jacksonville since early 60’s, missed a few in the 70’s and have been to the last 10 and yes I do not like being beat up in Jacksonville, but it was worse when they beat us in Athens. I’ll end with it is a wonderful trip and I come from the NC mountains, not south GA, which is my roots. We do not need to change venues, just outcomes. Cullowheedawg
SC Dawg
March 20th, 2009
1:11 pm
Dooley owned the gayturds in Jax. Just face the facts. they have been better than our Dawgs the last 20+ years on that Saturday in Jax. I love the trip and would hate it at the Dome. I saw my first dome game in New Orleans in 1977 Sugar Bowl, didn’t like it then, still don’t like dome games
Music City Dawg
March 20th, 2009
1:11 pm
Why are Florida fans the absolute worst? I’ve met cool people from every other SEC school except for UF. On second that, maybe we don’t want a home and home. I don’t think I like UF fans tainting Athens with their swamp stench.
SEADawg
March 20th, 2009
1:12 pm
Keep it in Jax: in the long run, the value of tradition should be the most significant factor. And frankly, I don’t give a flip about the alleged ‘home field advantage’ for UF. Ultimately, that has squat to do with the outcome of the game: the off week probably has more to do with it. Fact is, aside from ‘07 and ‘08, the game has been decided by a touchdown or less pretty much since Spurrier left. Sounds about right, even if UF has been fortunate enough to be on the W side of the ledger most of the time.
Oh, and by the way, if you hide behind Internet anonymity to sling insults at people, the only thing you’re really proving is how cowardly and pathetic YOU are.
jimnow
March 20th, 2009
1:14 pm
I was there in the mid-90’s when Florida CRUSHED Georgia in Athens. Playing in the state of Georgia didn’t seem to help the Dawgs much.
clifton cox
March 20th, 2009
1:15 pm
make the schedule home&home athens& gainesville or dome&jacksonville
Middle Ga Dawg
March 20th, 2009
1:19 pm
Keep the game in Jacksonville, but give UGA fans a lot more tickets than florida fans to make it more fair, since it really is a UF home game. Ga fans should get about 50,000 seats and florida fans 35,000. Also, GA should get better seats, since their fans have to travel a lot farther. Put florida fans in the endzones and let the dawg fans sit between the 20s. Damon Evans needs to step and tell florida this is the way it’s going to be, or he’s not having it in Jax!
SSI gator
March 20th, 2009
1:23 pm
MGD -
WTF? Does that mean UGA should only allow its fans 40k seats in Athens and 50k to the visitors? Get real.
AltamahaDawg
March 20th, 2009
1:24 pm
You cannot possibly think that the University of Florida football team boards a bus and drives over to Jacksonville the morning of the game.
Who cares what coverage the local media gives UF. Personally I dont read the north Fl papers much. Nor does that affect the outcome of the game whatsover.
The fact that the ASA is willing to pay more money to make it up, doesn’t alter the laws of Physics. 10,000 rear ends still take up the same amount of space. I guess we can all get on Marta and ride around, while enjoying whatever tailgating snacks that can fit in our pockets.
AltamahaDawg
March 20th, 2009
1:26 pm
Fl fans from Miami travel just as far as UGA fans from Macon.
Terry
March 20th, 2009
1:30 pm
HEY JUST ASK THE ALABAMA AUBURN FANS…….HOME AND HOME SERIES. I HAVE BEEN DOWN THERE TO THE WLC PARTY, MR. EVANS HOME AND HOME SERIES! HOME AND HOME SERIES…..NO MATTER HOW YOU CUT THE CAKE….UGA DRIVING TO JACKSONVILLE FLORIDA IS NOT A HOME GAME……CMR HOME AND HOME SERIES! WE HAVE OUR CHANCE TO END THIS JOKE. LETS DO IT…HOME AND HOME!
Stephen
March 20th, 2009
1:31 pm
Forget playing in the dome and in Jacksonville! Lets just play in Athens and in Gainesville. If we do play at neutral site lets play in Jacksonville every other year and play in the Dome the following year. The only thing neutral about this game is that the tickets are split 50/50. We always have to drive the distance to play this game in Florida… never does the Gators have to drive the distance and play in Georgia
TheItalianDawg
March 20th, 2009
1:32 pm
alternate between Atlanta and Jacksonville,
JaxGator
March 20th, 2009
1:35 pm
I think it would be tragic to move the game. I realize that the game does have a great economic impact for Jax.I have seen the Gators play in every SEC stadium. I have been to every SEC championship game in which the Gators have played.I was at the game in the Swamp in 94 and Sanford in 95. There is no other game that has the atmosphere and excitement as the Fla.- GA. in Jax.The games in 94 and 95 at the home fields were like just another SEC game.I understand the Georgia fans feelings about the game being played in Florida;however,only about ten thousand would be able to get tickets for the game in the swamp and the Gator fans would only get the same number for Sanford. The dome does not have the number of seats that Jax has which would reduce the number of fans from both universities who could get tickets. RV city in Jax is special; I don’t know if the dome has the facilities for a RV city. The game in Jax is like no other; I felt that way in the 70’s and 80’s when Georgia was beating us so much. I hope the game stays in Jax because it is so much more fun and excitement than any other game,even games in the Swamp. The cycle will turn at some point and the Dogs will start winning in Jax more often than in the last 20 years. The game in jax is a great tradition that should not be changed.
TOO TOUGH
March 20th, 2009
1:36 pm
NO DOME, HOME AND HOME, NO JAX , SWAMP AND THE DAWG HOUSE!
HOME AND HOME HOME AND HOME HOME AND HOME SERIES YES YES YES……
Walker Hears Voices
March 20th, 2009
1:37 pm
What does traveling have anything to do as a home game? The tickets are split 50/50. Outside the stadium, it is 50/50. We went to Athens and posted the first 50+ in their history in one game. They came to Gainesville and we posted another 50+ on the Dawgs. If we played in Jacksonville for 94 and 95, we would have won those games. It didn’t matter. Grow a sack and quit complaining. We have no problem traveling to Atlanta to win SEC titles. We have won 6 out of the last 7 SEC games we played in Atlanta. What has UGA done? 2 out of the last 3. Why is it ok the SEC title game is in Atlanta?
44
March 20th, 2009
1:39 pm
THE GAMES SHOULD BE PLAYED IN ATHENS AND GAINSVILLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Right On Time
March 20th, 2009
1:39 pm
DO IT!!!
Again, this is on a ROTATION!!!! Not forever. I have been going to that game for 24 years and I agree, it is fun. It is not sacred. I went to AzSt, will be at the OkSt game and go to bowl games. I don’t mind travelling. However, win or lose I’m tired of Jax.
I hate the thought of home and home. Having fla fans walking around the most beautiful campus in the country made me sick. Look what that did for local businesses. O’Maleys said bye, bye for renting to fla fans.
Suzy, Chicago, etc….
Make no mistake about it, any time 40,000 UGA fans in red and black show up, your town is much better for it. Colors are what matter: green cash and the beauty of red and black. Phoenix is supposed to be a big tourist area…just ask someone who was in Phoenix or at the Grand Canyon in September 2008.
DawgSling
March 20th, 2009
1:41 pm
Play in jacksonville one year, and athens the next year. That solves all problems. But, in the year the play it in jacksonville, the tickets must be split 50-50. In Athens, UGA gives Uf only 10,000 seats. Plus, the city of jacksonville needs to pony up a lot more cash to Georgia to cover all their expenses to travel, hotels, meals, inconvenience, etc. Ga should get millions more from the city than florida does, since they are right down the road.
AltamahaDawg
March 20th, 2009
1:45 pm
Sling, what is the breakdown of the payoff the city gives each school now?
GATORZONE
March 20th, 2009
1:46 pm
Jax is fine
Atlanta is fine
Home and home is fine
UF can beat UGA wherever, it does not matter.
GATORZONE
March 20th, 2009
1:48 pm
Typical whining from Typical puppy fans! What would your excuse be if it was home and home?
Injuries?
Willie Martinez?
QB leaving early?
Urban crying?
Tebow?
It is always something.
Huh?
March 20th, 2009
1:54 pm
Nobody can look me in the eye and tell me that this series wouldn’t be more competitive from a W-L standpoint if it were played as a customary home-home. I will never believe it in a million years. If we had to play LSU in New Orleans every time we played them we’d be in serious trouble. I don’t understand why Jacksonville is so much different. I think some of my fellow Dawg fans are deluding themselves.
Otto
March 20th, 2009
1:57 pm
cajdawg, CMR has one of the best road records in the SEC maybe we should play it in Gainesville every year.
IMO the distance has nothing to do with the record in the series. It is who has the open week before the game.
Otto
March 20th, 2009
2:10 pm
Huh? the game is a great recruiting trip for UGA and keeps South Georgia focused on Athens. Valdosta has supplied plenty of UGA athletes despite being much closer to UF and FSU. It maybe an advange to UF being closer but the scheduling and having a week off is a much bigger advantage than location. If the game moved I would want it to go to Tampa. The fans may have to drive more but it would be more equal for the players.
Dale Tyre
March 20th, 2009
2:11 pm
I agree with Dogger, the game ought to be played home and home. Time to drop the illusion of a “neutral site” . Howerver, if the powers that be, insist on continuing to have it in non-nuetral Jacksonville, then it should also be held EVERY OTHER YEAR in the Ga Dome.
Jeff
March 20th, 2009
2:12 pm
Why??????? When we were 19-6 vs Florida during Dooley’s time nobody wanted to move it- why now? Besides, based on our away record during Coach Richts time at UGA (especially last year), I vote we either go to a 12 game away schedule or lets go home and home series with them. We need to quit looking for excuses and just play football.