College Football Off-Field Matchups-Week 9. Brought to you by the Maxwell Football Club
Georgia and Florida fans come together for “The World’s Largest Cocktail Party” in Jacksonville, FL.
1. 1 Georgia at Florida
The reigning national champs and number one ranked team in the country Georgia take a short road trip down to Duval County to take on longtime rival, Florida, in Jacksonville. The SEC teams first met in 1904, and have been playing the annual rivalry game in Jacksonville since 1933, being one of the few neutral site rivalry games left in College football. Despite having played almost 100 times, only seven of those games were played in Athens or Gainesville, with the majority of the games played in Jacksonville. The current home of the rivalry is TIAA Bank Field, home of the NFL’s Jaguars, and the game is a massive tourist and economic event for the city of Jacksonville, being dubbed “The Worlds Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party”. The game and events leading up to it are so lucrative for the city that they agreed to compensate the schools for the loss of a home game by paying all travel expenses plus a $1 million per year bonus, a figure which increases to $1.25 million in 2024. As of the latest renewal agreement, each university will annually make almost $4 million from the game. The teams typically split ticket revenue for the game. It is likely that the game will need to be relocated in the coming years when TIAA Bank Field undergoes renovations, but for now the rivalry will continue to be played at the stadium until at least 2025. Florida and Georgia are long time bitter rivals, but come together every year to put together an event where everyone who’s involved wins off the field.
2. 20 Duke at 18 Louisville
When you hear of a ranked matchup between Duke and Louisville, you’ll probably be picturing a basketball game, but this year both schools have put impressive teams on the gridiron, with the Blue Devils ranked 20th with a 5-2 record and Louisville at 18th and 6-1, both in the hunt for an ACC championship. According to Stephan Johnson of local news station WDRB, the Cardinals red-hot start is bringing an economic boost to small businesses. From retail shops, parking, to restaurants, everyone is benefiting and feeling the buzz in the air from having a winning football team. Head Coach Jeff Brohm, a native of Louisville and graduate of UofL, is credited with connecting the team to the city and developing a family-like connection between the team and it’s fans.
Meanwhile, Duke has fielded one of the best teams they’ve had in years in football, and they are experiencing the economic benefits off the field. According to the Durham Sports Commission, ESPN College Gameday hosting their show in Durham for Notre Dame vs Duke brought in a $4 million boost for the city, having been the first time the premier college football show was hosted at Duke. Despite losing that game to Notre Dame, the city of Durham won regardless due to the economic boost. The two athletic programs historically known for hoops collide in a matchup of surging football teams that have provided economic boosts to their respective cities from their on-field performance.
3. 8 Oregon at 13 Utah
We get another ranked Pac-12 matchup this week, with the 8th ranked Oregon Ducks traveling to Utah to take on the 13th ranked Utah Utes. With the current PAC-12 all but disintegrating at the end of the year due conference realignment, the conference is going out with a bang, with six teams currently ranked in the AP Top 25 and top headlines such as Colorado shaking the world of college football weekly. Off the field, both these teams are on top of the game in recruiting and taking advantage of NIL to entice players to come play for their respective schools. Utah recently announced that the Crimson Collective will be giving every Utah Scholarship player a 2024 Ram 1500 Big Horn Truck with the Night Edition package. The lease and insurance costs are being fully funded by donors of the Crimson Collective. In turn, the athletes will work to create content for “For the Win 360”, a video platform that just launched a streaming app with the Utah Crimson Collective. Nearly a hundred brand new trucks are now on campus.
On the other side, an anonymous Pac-12 Coach told Sports Illustrated, "Oregon has the best NIL setup, and it’s not even close. Oregon is the only school in the Pac-12 that’s to be feared from a national standpoint because Oregon can go to whatever region it wants to and come out victorious. That’s the bogeyman in the league. That’s Pac-Man in the Pac-12 from an NIL standpoint. Everybody else is child’s play." Oregon’s national brand has made them a nightmare to recruit against for years, but now with NIL involved, the Ducks have only gotten stronger on the forefront of recruiting. Quarterback Bo Nix has been able to make his name nationally recognized after transferring from Auburn, and is worth 1.4$ annually. With the immediate brand recognition and ties to Nike, Oregon will be as enticing as a place as anywhere for any future recruit looking to build their own brand through name, image, and likeness. On the field we get another high profile PAC-12 matchup, off the field these are two programs that are fully utilizing NIL to attract and take care of top athletes.