Georgia-Florida to play in Jacksonville through ’25
-
Harry Lyles Jr., ESPN Staff Writer
The Georgia Bulldogs and Florida Gators announced Wednesday that the schools have exercised the option to play their annual rivalry game in Jacksonville during the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
The Georgia-Florida game has been played in Jacksonville since 1933, except for the 1994 and 1995 seasons during the construction of TIAA Bank Field. The Bulldogs and Gators are scheduled to meet on Oct. 28 for this year’s matchup.
The extension comes after Georgia head coach Kirby Smart expressed recruiting concerns with playing the game in Jacksonville prior to their most recent matchup last October, because NCAA rules don’t allow schools to host recruits at neutral sites.
“We’re allowed to use tickets, but we can’t host them,” Smart said last October. “We can’t do anything. So I never understood — I never understand — what would we do with them? We can’t legally see them. We can’t talk to them, we can’t host them. Visit with them.
“We can say, ‘There’s a ticket at the gate. Enjoy the game.’ So that’s really all we can do. We’ll do that. We’ll have some kids go to the game.”
Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks said in a release, “We are pleased with the decision to exercise the option that will keep the game in Jacksonville for 2024 and 2025. We look forward to discussions that I’m sure will continue over the next couple years exploring all the options for 2026 and beyond. We continue to be appreciative of the working relationship we have with the University of Florida and the City of Jacksonville.”
Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said, “The City of Jacksonville has been an historic host for one of the great rivalry games in all of college football. We are excited to have the game in Jacksonville for another two seasons.”
Georgia has won five of the last six meetings, most recently a 42-20 victory on Oct. 30, 2022, and leads the all-time series 55-44-2 (or 54-44-2, per Florida records).
-
Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
The Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday signed goaltender Ivan Fedotov to a two-year contract, keeping him out of free agency this offseason.
Fedotov, 27, will have a $3.25 million cap hit.
The Flyers waited nine years for the 6-foot-6 goaltender to leave Russia and join the NHL. Fedotov was selected 18th overall in the 2015 draft but remained with the Kontinental Hockey League for the next eight seasons.
Fedotov signed a deal with the Flyers in May 2022 but his attempt to come to North America that summer was thwarted when Russian authorities took him to a remote military base in the Arctic Circle for a year of service. After completing that service, he signed a two-year deal with CSKA of the KHL. That allowed the Flyers to toll his contract to this season.
After CSKA was eliminated from the Gagarin Cup playoffs, the team announced it had terminated the final year of his KHL contract but retained his Russian league rights. Fedotov finally arrived in the NHL and made his debut April 1. He appeared in three games for the Flyers last season, going 0-1-1 with an .811 save percentage.
Flyers general manager Danny Briere declined to offer specifics on how the team was able to get Fedotov over from Russia.
“He’s been through a lot in his career. He’s been through a lot in his personal life. It’s a big part of the reason why we feel comfortable. We’re excited to have him aboard,” he said in March.
The Flyers now have their goaltending tandem secured for 2024-25, with Fedotov joining 24-year-old Samuel Ersson, who also earned an extension through 2026.
Ersson played 51 games for the Flyers, who were eliminated from the playoffs in the last week of the regular season. Previous starting goalie Carter Hart took an indefinite leave of absence from the team and was one of four NHL players charged with sexual assault in London, Ontario, in January.
The London Police Department launched an investigation in 2022 after TSN reported that Hockey Canada had settled a lawsuit with a woman who said she was sexually assaulted by eight members of that team after a gala celebrating their gold medal win at the 2018 world junior championships.
Hart is a restricted free agent.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Environment11 months agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports6 months agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Environment1 year agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Technology3 years ago
Game consoles were once banned in China. Now Chinese developers want a slice of the $49 billion pie
-
Politics2 years ago
Have the last few wobbly weeks seen a turning point for Johnson as PM?