Get the breakfast menu ready for TaxSlayer Gator Bowl tailgating.
Jacksonville’s bowl and ESPN announced on June 3 that the 82nd edition of the nation’s sixth-oldest postseason college game will be on Dec. 30 with an 11:30 a.m. kickoff. The game will match the SEC vs. the ACC for the ninth time in the last 10 years, with Notre Dame in the ACC selection mix if the Irish don’t make the College Football Playoff.
It will be the earliest kickoff since Clemson and Kentucky played at noon on Dec. 29, 2023. The game will be played at Everbank Stadium with a capacity of 43,000 due to the construction of the Stadium of the Future, then move to Gainesville’s Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at the end of the 2027 season, and return to Jacksonville in 2028.
Virginia beat Missouri 13-7 in last year’s game. While the attendance was only 31,802, the viewership of 6 million on ABC was the highest since the 2010 game in which Bobby Bowden coached his final game for Florida State.
Gator Bowl tips off busy college football day
Gator Bowl President Greg McGarity said he is pleased with the time slot on ESPN, which will not bump against any other bowl games. The Gator Bowl will kick off a day of college football action that culminates in a CFP quarterfinal game in Glendale, Ariz., at 7:30 p.m.
“It will be a good day and time for us,” McGarity said. “As the television people say, we’ll have ‘clear air’ for that slot.”
“It’s a tremendous honor to be the lead game in a robust day of iconic college football programming,” said Gator Bowl chairman Bill Dixon, in a statement. “The TaxSlayer Gator Bowl and Northeast Florida will provide an incredible post-season destination for the players, coaching staff and fans alike.”
What’s the future Gator Bowl conference affiliation?
Last year was technically supposed to be the final year of the SEC vs. the ACC but conference affiliations for non-CFP bowls were extended another year. Once the CFP finalizes its format and number of playoff teams by Dec. 1, other bowls will begin to nail down their future conference matchups.
McGarity is on record as saying the Gator Bowl would like to remain with the SEC. That conference has had at least one team in the Gator Bowl in 41 of the previous 80 years. Five of those games were an all-SEC matchup.
Tickets for the 2026 Gator Bowl will go on sale at a later date on taxslayergatorbowl.com or ticketmaster.com.
What other bowl games have been scheduled?
What’s the College Football Playoff schedule?
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: TaxSlayer Gator Bowl will have a morning kickoff on Dec. 30, on ESPN
Reporting by Garry Smits, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Garry Smits, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union | USA TODAY Network
