Georgia-Florida Cocktail Party will be a pub crawl for two years

As Georgia football gets ready to take on Florida this weekend in their annual rivalry clash, some news has come out that impacts this rivalry in future years.

We’ve all become accustomed to this game taking place in Jacksonville, but with upcoming renovations taking place at EverBank Stadium, the rivalry is going to have to find a temporary new home.

Brett McMurphy of Action Network HQ reported on Wednesday that this game will take place at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta in 2026 and at RaymondJames Stadium in Tampa Bay in 2027.

Missed opportunity for Florida and Georgia

Dating all the way back to 1933, this rivalry has always taken place in Jacksonville. Well, almost every year. In 1994 and 1995, this rivalry was played on Georgia and Florida’s respective campuses before moving back to Jacksonville in 1996 where the game has been ever since.

Traditions are one of the best things in college football, and it’s important we celebrate those traditions and carry them on for as long as possible. But it’s worth asking why they didn’t decide to play these games on campus instead of finding new neutral site locations.

It’s clear that they have decided to have the 2026 game closer to Georgia fans and the 2027 game closer to Florida fans, but why not just put them on their campuses instead? Sure this game has always been at a neutral site, but why not spice it up a little while these renovations take place?

It could be really fun to see these programs battle it out in front of home crowds, something most of us have potentially only seen twice in our lifetimes. Neutral atmospheres are fun, but nothing beats a crowd solely supporting one team and doing everything in their power to negatively impact their opponent. And in a rivalry game as big as this, one would have to assume the atmospheres in Athens and Gainesville would have been special.

Retired Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Bill King shares the same opinion as well.

"Plain and simple, this sucks if it is true and is one more sign that the current UGA athletic administration is all about the Benjamins and the fans be damned,” King said via Facebook. “Passing up a chance for Fla-UGA Between the Hedges is insane."

But unfortunately, we won’t be able to witness that.

The rivalry will move back to Jacksonville in 2028 where these two sides will battle every season once again. But at some point (maybe even decades from now) a reason will likely come up where the location needs to change again, so hopefully they agree to put it on campuses even for a short amount of time then.