The current deal pays $250,000 annually to each university, a bargain compared to what other big cities dole out to host neutral-site games. The programs will get $1 million each in 2020 and 2021 and $1.25 million in the final two years of the new deal.
The travel stipend remains unchanged: each school receives $60,000 a year, and Georgia gets an additional $350,000 for air fare.
The two-year extension still needs approval by the city council, but that is considered a formality.
“The Florida-Georgia game is more than a football game,” Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said. “It is a weeklong celebration of two storied programs meeting on a neutral field that has created generational memories for both fan bases.”
The growing number of high-profile, home-and-home series leave the schools with one less home game each year. That loss of revenue will now be made up in the increased Florida-Georgia payouts.
“We look forward to the continuation of one of the greatest college football traditions in the country — a border-states battle between Georgia and Florida,” Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity said. “The extension ensures the historical preservation of the game in Jacksonville, which has been part of the national college football landscape since 1933.”
The game wasn’t played in 1943 because of World War II and moved to campuses in 1994-95 because of stadium renovations.
Photo credit – Curtis Compton / Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP / Jacksonville, FL