From the Associated Press in Atlanta:

A Republican legislator wants to use the University of Georgia’s annual grudge match against the University of Florida as a bargaining chip in the long-running dispute over water rights.

State Sen. John Douglas, a Social Circle Republican, says the game should be played every other year in Georgia instead of Jacksonville, Fla. The rivalry attracts tens of thousands of fans and has an estimated economic impact of $25 million for the north Florida city.

Georgia officials were sent scrambling after a federal judge’s devastating ruling last week that said the state had little rights to withdraw water from a massive reservoir at the center of a dispute involving Georgia, Florida and Alabama. The ruling gives lawmakers three years to hash out a compromise.