JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Landing is gearing up for the Florida-Georgia game, one of the biggest college football rivalries there is that Jacksonville has had the privilege of hosting for 80 years.
Safety is always a huge priority for the Landing, which teams up with multiple city agencies every year for Florida-Georgia to ensure fans stay safe.
"We are working with police. We will have paramedics on site this year, especially this weekend," said Samantha Collins, marketing and public relations manager for the Landing."We will be extra cautious about that, so we will have plenty of people here that are able to handle those kind of situations."
Thousands of fans will pack the Landing on Friday night and Saturday.
One way the Landing hopes to help protect those diehards is with sideline safety zones. The six zones provided by the city will offer first aid, cellphone chargers, phone service, directions, snacks and more.
Two will be located at the Landing, one at the shipyards, one next to Metropolitan Park, one outside EverBank Field's south endzone and one outside EverBank's gate one.
"As you know, it's a huge party weekend, so it's just a precaution for us to have something we can provide for the students from Georgia and Florida to be able to say, 'If you lose a friend, go there, you can call,'" Collins said.
Carlos Diaz, a sports anchor for HLN, is in town to report on the border war. He said he's experiencing the rivalry for the first time and is really looking forward to one thing in particular.
"Seeing the jorts," he said. "I want to count how many jorts I see because I hear they're legendary, so I'm going to go on a mission to count as many jorts as I can."