The 67th annual Cortaca Jug football game is coming up fast, and fans are getting excited. The infamous game is to be held at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York City, and will return to going between campuses in the years following.
Cortaca Jug began in 1959 as a rivalry between the SUNY Cortland and Ithaca College football teams, when both captains from each team purchased a jug from a local yard sale as their “traveling trophy”. The jug is updated yearly with the winner of that year’s game. In 1985, a second jug was debuted after the first jug ran out of room for updates, and then there was a third jug debuting in 2016. Every year, the game switches between the college’s football field, not dependent on the winner, but whoever hosted the year prior. Although, in recent years ticket sales have sky-rocketed, selling out 27 years in a row.
In 2019, the game was hosted at MetLife Stadium, selling 45,161 tickets, and in 2022 the game was hosted at Yankee Stadium, selling over 40,000 tickets.
So far, Ithaca has taken the lead with 39 victories out of the 66 games, with Cortland holding 27 wins. Ithaca has also won both games where the game was hosted as a location outside of the college fields. Fans are eager for the 2026 game, as the “67th” game has become more than just the year, but it also resides in a social media trend, where even SUNY Cortland’s President Erik Bitterbaum participated in a promotional video to get fans rallied up for the game in the year to come. Alumni from decades ago still come to the games in support of their team, continuing the tradition from their college years. Restaurants and bars throw watch parties for the locals who want to watch the game but can’t get tickets.
Cortaca is known to be “the biggest little game in the nation” as declared by Sportswriter John Walters who wrote a piece on the 1991 Cortaca Jug in Sports Illustrated.
Nico Andrews, a junior on the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons football team, who has played in the Cortaca Jug the past 2 years explains that “The Yankee stadium is a historic landmark so for the Cortaca Jug to be played there is an honor, especially during my time at Cortland. It is also special to me to be able to go close to home and play in front of a bunch of my family.” He also talked about how these opportunities open new doors for the players and they are excited for this year’s game.
The 67th annual Cortaca Jug will be on Saturday November 14th, beginning promptly at 1pm. As of Tuesday, September 15th, the Student Government Association stated tickets are still available for purchase on ticket master, student tickets are reserved for the 400 level section, although seats in the 100 and 200 levels are also available for purchase. On behalf of the SGA, we hope to see you there!!