ATLANTA — The annual Georgia-Florida game will soon be coming back to the Peach State -- but not quite all the way to Athens.
The longstanding SEC rivalry game will be moving locations for two years -- in 2026 and 2027 -- while the game's current stadium location, TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, undergoes renovations.
That means that the Georgia-Florida game will now be coming to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta in 2026 and Raymond James Stadium in Tampa in 2027, according to reports.
One of college football's greatest traditions, the Georgia-Florida game has been played in Jacksonville since 1933, outside of the '94 and '95 seasons, while they were building TIAA Bank Field -- the stadium that hosts the game now.
There has been previous debate on whether the game that's almost always been played in Jacksonville could move to each school's on-campus stadiums.
In the past few seasons, many people have taken to social media to express their desire for the game to move to each team's on-campus stadium -- meaning in alternating seasons, the game would be played at Sanford Stadium in Athens and Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville.
However, money plays a big-time role in these decisions and likely factored into why this game moved to two different neutral site locations in 2026 and 2027.
The most recent agreement kept the rivalry game in Jacksonville through this year's 2023 season, but the teams reached an agreement to keep it in the city through 2025 in June of last year.
"Jacksonville has been the proud home of the Georgia-Florida game since 1933," Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry said in 2022. "We are excited to welcome back thousands of Dawgs and Gators to Jacksonville in 2024 and 2025. I want to thank the University of Georgia and University of Florida for their continued faith and investment in our city."
So, for now, the game will be in Jacksonville until 2025. But that leaves the window open for a longstanding tradition to potentially change in the future. As traction for the movement heats up, maybe we'll get a new tradition between the Hedges and in The Swamp after the 2027 season.
