Friday’s news that Georgia and Florida have both reached agreement with the city of Jacksonville certainly came as no surprise. But if Bulldog officials have their way, there could be another significant change coming soon.
According to athletic director Greg McGarity, Georgia plans on introducing legislation at next May’s SEC Spring Meetings in Destin to allow schools to host recruits at in-conference neutral site games. The NCAA would ultimately have to approve.
Under the proposal, teams would host on a rotating basis. For example, if approved, each school would get to host recruits at the game when they’re the designated home team.
Currently, schools are allowed to leave tickets for recruits, but all prospects must sit in the stands.
Losing a recruiting weekend every other year was one of head coach Kirby Smart’s biggest concerns.
“It wouldn’t take the place of on-campus visiting, but perhaps it would be something where we could have a host tent and see if something like that could work,” McGarity told UGASports. “Again, it wouldn’t replace the on-campus visit, but still allow each school to host recruits at the game.”
As for the new contract with the city of Jacksonville, McGarity told UGASports it was a deal neither Georgia nor Florida could pass up.
Under the new contract announced earlier today by Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, the current deal with the city—which was set to expire with the 2021 game—has been extended to 2023, with school options for 2024 and 2025. Georgia and Florida would have until May 22, 2022, to extend the option.
According to a memorandum of understanding from the city of Jacksonville, each school will receive additional guarantees of $3.5 million. If the option is extended, Georgia and Florida would each receive an addition $1.5 million for each season.
According to McGarity, UGA will make about $5 million more playing in Jacksonville, instead of having home-and-home games in 2020 and 2021.
For those wondering, that would be an increase from about $4 million that Georgia currently receives over a current two-year period.
“The financial implications are huge,” McGarity said. “We’d have to raise our ticket prices significantly to make up $5 million. That’s a lot of money. When you’re talking having to sponsor 21 sports, that’s a lot of money.”
McGarity said Georgia will revisit the contract after the 2021 season.
“We’ll revisit this thing after the 2021 game and see where we are,” McGarity said. “We’ll re-evaluate, just as we did this time, and see what’s best.”
When considering any extension past 2025, it’s important to note that the 2026 season would align with the next round of conference games to be announced by the SEC.
