The Jaguars’ TIAA Bank Field is set to be renovated starting in 2025, which will impact the NFL team’s home for two seasons, along with the annual Georgia–Florida rivalry game that takes place in the stadium.
Jacksonville mayor Lenny Curry spoke about the plans for TIAA Bank Field while appearing on 1010XL radio on Wednesday.
“Best-case scenario, I expect that the renovation will take two years, two seasons, and the team will have to play somewhere else,” Curry said, via The Athletic, referring to the Jaguars. “The goal would be to play somewhere in Jacksonville. Those discussions are happening. But two years is the goal.”
As Curry said, the city has not decided where the Jaguars and the SEC rivalry game will be held during those expected two seasons, but they are hoping the solution will be somewhere close by. The Chargers went through a similar situation a couple years ago when SoFi Stadium was built—the team played at a nearby stadium in the meantime.
The Georgia–Florida game location has also not been determined, but Curry noted that the game could just be held at each team’s home stadium for the two seasons during which the renovations will take place.
Wherever the game ends up will be a major change, though, as the rivalry game has been held in Jacksonville since 1933. The only times when the matchup didn’t take place in the city was when a similar situation occurred during the 1994 and ’95 seasons as TIAA Bank Field was being renovated. The teams played at their home fields during those two years.
As of now, the Georgia–Florida game is expected to return to TIAA Bank Field in 2027, as long as a new deal is figured out between the teams and stadium by then.
