{"id":411078,"date":"2026-09-26T06:06:27","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T06:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/411078\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T06:06:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T06:06:27","slug":"gator-bowl-holds-off-on-contract-extension-past-2028-citing-stadium-renovations-playoff-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/411078\/","title":{"rendered":"Gator Bowl holds off on contract extension past 2028 citing stadium renovations, playoff expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Uncertainty around the future of the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville has the event holding off on extending its contract with the city past the 2028 season, with the game\u2019s leadership citing stadium renovations and a potential Playoff expansion, as reported by our news partners at the Jacksonville Daily Record<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The city is set to file legislation with Jacksonville City Council that would extend the city\u2019s contract with the Gator Bowl one year into the opening of the Jacksonville Jaguars\u2019 \u201cStadium of the Future,\u201d according to a memo presented to the Mayor\u2019s Budget Review Committee. <\/p>\n

That legislation would guarantee that the Gator Bowl plays one more game in Jacksonville following the renovation as part of the 2028 bowl season. <\/p>\n

The renovations to EverBank Stadium would keep the Gator Bowl from Jacksonville for the 2027 bowl season. The city\u2019s current contract with the game runs through the end of the 2026 season, expiring March 31, 2027. <\/p>\n

City spokesperson Phil Perry said there have not been substantial talks between the Gator Bowl and the city to extend past the 2028 bowl season. <\/p>\n

Alex Alston, director of the city\u2019s Office of Sports and Entertainment, said the decision not to extend the contract further was made by the Gator Bowl, which was eyeing potential changes to college football\u2019s postseason structure and the potential expansion of the CFP.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn no way does it reflect the city\u2019s desire to not continue our partnership with the Gator Bowl long term, just that those CFP details might affect how we would proceed in the future,\u201d Alston said.<\/p>\n

Speaking with the Daily Record on Sept. 25, Gator Bowl President Greg McGarity offered a different account than the city\u2019s, saying the Gator Bowl\u2019s hesitancy to renew the contract was based on uncertainties regarding the renovations to EverBank Stadium.<\/p>\n

McGarity said the Gator Bowl wanted to test-run the event in the \u201cStadium of the Future\u201d in 2028 before finalizing operational costs and working on further contract extensions.<\/p>\n

CFP expansion was \u201cpart of\u201d the Gator Bowl\u2019s concerns, but McGarity said he was \u201cbullish\u201d about its survival under a 24-team model.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we were worried about expansion we wouldn\u2019t have done anything (with extending the contract),\u201d McGarity said. \u201cFlorida is a destination (where) all teams want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

TaxSlayer\u2019s contract to sponsor the Gator Bowl runs through 2027. <\/p>\n

McGarity, a former University of Georgia athletic director, took over the operations in 2021. The contest has been played since 1946.<\/p>\n

Click here to read the full story on the Jacksonville Daily Record website.<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Uncertainty around the future of the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville has the event holding off…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[11705,116,118,117,110],"class_list":["post-411078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-gator-bowl","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}