Florida vs. Georgia Leaves Jacksonville This Year: Atlanta on Oct. 31, Tampa in 2027 and Back Home in 2028

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - For the first time in 31 years, the Florida-Georgia game will not be played in Jacksonville. The Gators and Bulldogs meet Saturday, Oct. 31, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, because EverBank Stadium is in the middle of a renovation that has removed thousands of seats. The game moves to Raymond James Stadium in Tampa in 2027 and is scheduled to come back to Jacksonville in 2028.

The rivalry has been a Jacksonville fixture for generations. Georgia and Florida have met in Jacksonville every year since 1933, except in 1994 and 1995, when the old Gator Bowl was rebuilt for the expansion Jaguars. Those two games were played on the schools' campuses, and the game returned to the new stadium in 1996.

Why the Game Left

The move is a direct result of the $1.4 billion Stadium of the Future project. EverBank Stadium is playing the 2026 football season with about 42,500 seats, down from a normal capacity of 67,814, while crews build a partial roof and wider concourses. In 2027 the stadium will not be used at all, and the Jaguars expect to play that season at Camping World Stadium in Orlando.

A rivalry game that routinely fills a stadium could not fit inside a half-empty construction site. The two universities and the City of Jacksonville worked out the temporary plan and announced it on Nov. 1, 2024. That announcement also locked in Jacksonville as the host from 2028 through 2031, after the renovated stadium opens.

The Last Game Here

The most recent Jacksonville meeting went down to the final minutes. No. 5 Georgia beat Florida 24-20 on Nov. 1, 2025, at EverBank Stadium, with Chauncey Bowens scoring the go-ahead touchdown on a 36-yard run late in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Gunner Stockton threw two touchdown passes for the Bulldogs, who improved to 7-1 that day.

Georgia has had the upper hand recently. The Bulldogs lead the all-time series 58-44-2 by Georgia's count, while Florida's records list one fewer Georgia win. Either way, Georgia came into this season having won five straight against the Gators.

What Jacksonville Gives Up

The game is one of the biggest annual weekends for the city's hotels and restaurants. The City of Jacksonville put the economic impact of the 2015 game at $35 million, with 37,270 hotel room nights booked and about $3.6 million in room revenue. A Visit Jacksonville study of the 2014 game counted 132,882 out-of-town visitors.

That spending will go to Atlanta this year and Tampa next year. Hotels near the stadium and the Beaches, which normally sell out for the weekend, will see a more typical late-October Saturday. Local fans who want to make the trip face a drive of about 340 miles to Atlanta, compared with a few minutes downtown in a normal year.

The weekend still has a home game in it. The Jaguars play the Indianapolis Colts at EverBank Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 1, one of only six regular-season games the team is playing in Jacksonville this season. Fans heading to that game will see the same reduced seating and construction that pushed the college game out of town.

Coming Back in 2028

The renovated stadium is scheduled to reopen in August 2028, in time for that fall's Florida-Georgia game. The Jaguars say the finished building will hold just over 70,000 people for major events, with a canopy designed to cut the heat in the stands. Earlier reports put the renovated capacity at about 62,000 for regular games, expandable to 71,500.

The 2028-2031 agreement means the game's long Jacksonville run will be interrupted for only two seasons. Mayor Donna Deegan said when the deal was announced that the game would keep driving economic impact for the city, and the contract keeps it here at least through the 2031 meeting. Kickoff times and TV networks for the Atlanta game are set by the Southeastern Conference and can be checked on either school's athletics website.