DESTIN, Fla. – Both president Jere Morehead and athletic director Greg McGarity say they get where head coach Kirby Smart is coming from when he talks about the future of the Georgia-Florida game in Jacksonville.

However, that doesn’t automatically mean change is on the way.

On Tuesday, Smart told reporters that “nothing is off the table” as far as the future of the game in Jacksonville is concerned, a statement both administrators were asked about by beat writers at the close of Wednesday’s session of the SEC Spring Meetings.

Smart’s main concerns revolve around recruiting.

Being that it’s a neutral site game, neither Georgia or Florida host recruits at Jacksonville. One huge reason – the game falls during a non-contact period when coaches are not allowed to speak with recruits off-campus. Recruits who come to the game have to sit in the stands.

In Smart’s eyes, having the game in Jacksonville costs him an extra weekend that he could be hosting recruits in Athens, a fact both Morehead and McGarity say they understand.

“We’ll certainly listen to Coach Smart, because we realize it is an important issue,” said Morehead, noting that the current deal with the city of Jacksonville runs through the 2021 season.

Georgia and Florida have met in Jacksonville—with the exception of 1994 and 1995 - every season since 1933.

However, with the contract expiring in three years and Georgia enhancing the non-conference portion of its future schedules, Smart’s comments certainly raised some eyebrows.

McGarity acknowledges going to a home-and-home with the Gators may be easier said than done.

“It doesn’t surprise me at all that Kirby is focused on recruiting, that’s at the top of the list there. But there are a lot of things to consider,” McGarity said. “The President and I have talked about it earlier, there’s the historical aspects of the game, you’ve got a lot of people who are interested in that game so there are a lot of things to consider. I’m sure once we have something to review from (Jacksonville) we’ll all sit down, talk about it and go from there. But I totally understand where Kirby is coming from as far as recruiting.”

One of the potential avenues would be to see if there are ways to still host recruits in Jacksonville and stay within the rules currently in place.

“Are there other ways we can work around that? We’re going to discuss some of those things,” McGarity said. “Are there other ways we could entertain recruits? Those are all options that we can look it.”

Ultimately, however, money could end up being what dictates where the game is played.

According to McGarity – under the current contract – Georgia receives over a two-year period just over $3 million difference as opposed to the typical home game crowd. A new contract with the city could push that total even higher.

“Financially, it’s advantageous to play that game in Jacksonville because you’ve got that consistent stream of revenue,” McGarity said. “There’s also the tickets. If you’re playing home and home, each team gets 6,000 tickets, so that experience diminishes just because of the people in attendance if you went home and home.”

McGarity said there’s also the historical aspect to consider.

“I think for the South Georgia Bulldogs, there are people who have been going to that game for decades, it’s part of life,” he said. “It’s become a rite of passage. You have families who go down for the entire week, from the Georgia coast from Ponte Vedra north, even between fans of both schools. I’ve been on both sides of it. I’ve seen how important to those who make that trip – 40,000 from each school - and very few times have there been tickets left over.”

McGarity said there will be windows of opportunities in the coming months to discuss with Jacksonville officials about the status of the game.

Morehead and McGarity were asked if they could quantify how many people in the state see the contest in Jacksonville as being the highlight of any given year.

“It’s probably that way throughout the state, there’s so many people from Atlanta …,” said McGarity.

“Look at all our students, it’s a big deal for all of our student body, Georgia-Florida,” Morehead interjected. “There’s a lot of issues related to changing it.”