For the first time in 31 years, Georgia and Florida won’t be meeting in Jacksonville, and that alone changes the feel of one of college football’s most familiar weekends. Saturday’s game has been moved to Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium because of construction at EverBank Stadium, turning what used to be “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party” into a two-year break from the scene generations of fans knew so well.
The setting is different, but the schools are still splitting the tickets 50-50, and the matchup still carries the same weight for the people around it. Georgia coach Kirby Smart, who played in the rivalry and has coached in it too, called the shift “a unique experience for sure to have it in the Benz in Atlanta.”
Smart went 1-3 as a player in the series, with his one win coming in 1997 when Georgia upset No. 6 Florida 37-17 as a 20-point underdog.
He also played in Florida’s 52-17 win in 1995 and the Gators’ 52-14 victory in 1994, the only times the game had been played outside Jacksonville since 1933 until now.
For longtime fans like Ken Barnes, the annual trip to Jacksonville was part of the ritual. He used to make the drive with his wife and friends, and his son Khalil went a couple of times too, including in 2014.
Khalil Barnes, now Georgia’s starting Star nickel back from Bogart, will be taking part in his first Florida game after transferring from Clemson, and he said the weekend always carried family memories. He recalled trips tied to the Athens Little League bye week, and one childhood visit that ended with a game after a stop at Disney World.
“It was always good memories.”
Ken Barnes said access to tickets often came through family connections to the program. His mother owned Peaches Fine Foods in Athens and catered for the team.
Even when they didn’t have tickets, they still made the trip. “It was just a party, the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party or whatever they used to call it.
Just going down and having a good time.”
That party atmosphere is part of what people around the rivalry say will be missed. Greg McGarity, now president/CEO of the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl in Jacksonville and formerly an associate athletic director at Florida, said the on-campus games in 1994 and 1995 didn’t feel especially different from any other college matchup.
What made Jacksonville special, he said, was everything around it. “By going back to a split environment, I think it will help.
I think what will be missed is the tailgating and the invasion of the beaches and just all the things that surround the game other than the game. They can’t duplicate that environment.
Certainly not in Atlanta.”
Buck Belue, the former Georgia quarterback who is now a sports radio host on 680 AM in Atlanta, also pointed to the game’s uniqueness. He said that growing up in Valdosta, the matchup was big enough that there was even a parade downtown.
For him, the draw of Jacksonville is part of what makes the rivalry special. “It gives us something that nobody else is having,” he said.
“You’ve got that Texas-Oklahoma game in Dallas, but this makes it so unique and so special. Everybody looks forward to it.
You get to do a little traveling down there, hit the beach, go to the game. It just doesn’t get any better than that.
Long term, I’m hoping it’s going to stay there.”
The game will head to Tampa in 2027 before returning to Jacksonville, where it remains under contract through 2031.
Atlanta won’t recreate the beachside weekend, but it does bring the rivalry closer to home for some Georgia fans. The Bulldogs are only about 71 miles from their home stadium, while Florida running back Jadan Baugh said family could claim as many as 30 tickets for the Gators’ first game in Atlanta since the 2020 SEC championship game.
Smart said the venue change won’t matter much to the teams. Georgia seniors have already played five games in Mercedes-Benz Stadium over the last three seasons, including the SEC championship game each year as well as games against Clemson and Georgia Tech.
And for players, the approach stays the same. “We take it as we take any other game, a home game or an away game,” Georgia linebacker Raylen Wilson said, “We’re trying to go there and take it over regardless of what venue we play in.”
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