Crews prepare EverBank Field for Gator Bowl

Stadium set-up began Monday morning

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Crews are preparing EverBank Field for the Gator Bowl.  Set-up began Monday morning for the New Year's Day game.

Workers are repainting the field, cleaning the stands and hanging banners for the Georgia Bulldogs and Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Fans are already checking into Jacksonville hotels for the 69th annual Gator Bowl.

"Chaos, chaos and hopefully the people that come into the stadium to watch the game don't see it but you know obviously we're throwing a number of events New Year's Eve," said Rick Catlett, President of the Gator Bowl Association.

There are pep rallies at the Jacksonville Landing and a 5K run leading up to the game.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers will play for their 50th bowl game appearance.  The Georgia Bulldogs will play their 49th bowl game in school history.  Georgia brings a lot of local fans and Nebraska fans are turning out too.  Catlett says that adds to a great game dynamic.

"Ticket sales have been very brisk. We expect a crowd of about 60,000 to 62,000 people. We're still selling tickets, believe it or not, and there are some good ones still available. The schools brought back a few tickets and so we've put those out for sale now," said Catlett.

Game kick-off is at noon on Wednesday.

"If you wanted to get up and come down and spend New Year's Day watching a good college football game with your family, this would be the right place to come," said Catlett.

The TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl Parade presented by Republic Services will be held Tuesday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.  It will be aired live on Channel 4 and through the Gator Bowl app.  Channel 4's Kent Justice, Adrienne Moore and Michael Kelly will host the parade.

The Gator Bowl app is free for Apple and Android devices.  It will also stream the teams' news conferences and pep rallies live.