By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The University of Georgia and the University of Florida have fought the same battle on the same battleground for nearly a century. That won’t be changing for the next several years.

The city of Jacksonville, Florida, where the two rivals have played their annual game since 1933, agreed to continue hosting the collegiate contest through at least 2023 with an option to extend to 2025.

Press releases were sent out with all parties involved expressing a positive feeling about the deal, espousing words of tradition and history; if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, essentially.

The idea behind playing this game in Jacksonville each year is housed in the notion that it’s a neutral ground. With the two teams claim to be the “University of” their respective states, Jacksonville also serves as a borderland over which the game’s victors can claim.

But it’s not quite neutral territory, is it? Ignoring the fact that the game is played inside the state lines of Florida, the geography is actually staggeringly lopsided.

The rabid, eager fans of the Georgia Bulldogs make the trip every year, often with a pit stop on a beach or coastal island like St. Simon’s, to cheer on their team. Thus, is the level of their passion.

It’s an overnight trip, for sure. It takes over five hours to make the trek from Athens, Georgia to Jacksonville.

Gas money, hotels, food and alcohol, and eleven or more total hours in a car are all costs that the Bulldog faithful must pay to root for their home team.

The Florida Gator Nation? They could easily sleep in their beds the night of the game. It’s less than an hour and a half travel time to get from Gainesville to Jacksonville. Sure, many Gators will stay in Jacksonville and revel in the festivities, but with a DD in tow, driving back home is very much an option.

Granted, so many fans of college football – and these two teams in particular – aren’t current (or have ever been) students of their respective schools; but the stadiums in Gainesville and Athens aren’t filling up with 5-hour commuters every Saturday. They’re being attending by people who can commute to the games.

So, even those season ticket holders for UGA, who aren’t living in Athens aren’t living an hour and a half from Jacksonville either.

This isn’t to say that Florida has home field advantage every year but it’s not a far cry from it.

There’s been talk of moving the game from Jacksonville in the past. Recently there has been a notion for a home-and-home series between the two teams, for example.

I’ve even heard it suggested that the annual game switch between Jacksonville and Atlanta (for those counting mileage, the travel times essentially switch, but with a slightly shorter trip time from Gainesville to Atlanta than Athens to Jacksonville).

Last week’s news of the game remaining in Jacksonville puts those options to bed, for now, anyway.

Truthfully it does seem unlikely that a game with such rich history in one location would be altered. Especially now that they’re locked in for a 90^th year, why stop shy of a century?

Who knows if either of those options, or a third, heretofore unknown choice, will ever be utilized.

The game is too big each year to not involve some kind of pomp and circumstance, even when the teams aren’t having their best years.

So maybe Jacksonville isn’t the most elegant solution; it doesn’t seem like there will be another one anytime soon.