JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It's time once again for the Georgia Bulldogs to go on the road to face an arch rival. Tradition dictates that the Bulldogs play the Florida Gators each year in their state -- not ours.
Many Bulldog fans think it's unfair that the games are played in Jacksonville.
For college football fans, there's nothing like witnessing a game in your home stadium, especially when you're playing a rival.
Still, for more than 80 years, the Georgia Bulldogs and Florida Gators have had to leave home for their annual football showdown.
The Bulldogs call Athens home and the Gators play in Gainesville, Florida. However, when the two meet, it's on the coast in Jacksonville. Here's why.
In the early 1900s, college football stadiums weren't as massive as they are now. Georgia sports historian Loran Smith said it wasn't unusual for rivals to meet at neutral sights where they could draw a bigger crowd.
"Georgia had a rickety old baseball field which served as the football field," he said. "We played Georgia Tech in Atlanta every year for a number of years."
"Georgia played Florida in Athens a couple of times, Macon, Tampa," he added.
Florida scheduled two or three games a year at Fairfield Stadium in Jacksonville.
According to historian and Jacksonville resident Bill Delaney, even as Georgia and Florida were building bigger stadiums for themselves, they saw the value in playing in a bigger city with potentially higher ticket prices.
Located on the railroad line, Jacksonville was a relatively easy trip for fans of both teams.
"A lot of people in South Georgia they were nearer Jacksonville than they were Athens," Smith said. "So, the Florida game was the one game they could get to."
One game didn't happen because of World War II. The stadium was closed for two years for renovations. Otherwise, Georgia and Florida have met in Jacksonville every year since 1933.
There have been discussions about moving it over the years, but tradition has held strong.
A contract between the schools and the city will keep the game in Jacksonville until at least 2023.