Jacksonville Pride and the Renaming of Our Stadium (sales, to rent)

[jsimms3]

As everyone is probably already aware, Jacksonville Municipal Stadium will be called Everbank Field for the next 5 years as part of a $16.6M. This is great news for the city, the team, and Everbank. Also, in other news Touchdown Jacksonville has done a very good job of promoting ticket sales for this season. There are still 10,000 seats unsold per game, but it looks like we may have a year without any home game black outs!

What are everyone's thoughts? And go Jags and Jacksonville!

Me thinks we get to keep our team now and sportswriters cannot embarass as much this year.

[donisanasfan]

I absolutely hate football, but good for a local company stepping up and supporting it's local team. They should get some local business out of the deal and will definitely receive more national exposure. Plus Everbank Field sounds kind of cool. Much better then most corporate named sports venues. I just wish we had a major league baseball team.

[jsimms3]

More related news: another possible sponsorship from BCBS Florida for the main practice field.

Jaguars may get a Blue field - Jacksonville Business Journal

Things are heating up baby!

[fsquid]

Glad to hear the naming rights have sold again.

[wb3690]

Colts fan here, but I'm thrilled to see this happen! I was reading some negative feedback on the first coast news website from readers and thought how stupid they sounded. This is nothing but good for Jacksonville.

[abvavgjoe]

Sounds good to me. Unlike last year, it would be nice to watch the home team once in a while.

[Ryde41]

I think its a great name! I'm excited about the games this year. We are planning tailgating events already. We've had one preseason party (in full Jaguars attire) and looking forward to many more. My neighbors are fun.

[mawipafl]

I don't intend to be snide nor sarcastic nor do I want to downplay the enthusiasm for the game of football, but I must have been absent from class on the day the lesson was taught that 1) a city is legimate only if it has a pro football team, and 2) there is pride in a team only when a corporate sponsor's name is plastered on the stadium, and 3) a team's level of play is based on whether they play or don't play in a stadium that is named because a company shelled out a bazillion dollars.

I'm not trying to be cynical or negative, but I just don't get whoopdedoo excited when two companies strike a financial deal that appears to benefit just the two of them.

Truly and honestly, I am trying to get the excitement. I don't understand why Everbank's name on the stadium is going to sell more tickets or send the Jaguars to the Super Bowl.

I seem to have such a narrow view of the whole thing. Everbank has $16+ million in an advertising budget to rent a "billboard" from Mr. Weaver who doesn't even own the "billboard". What am I missing?

[captaincatfish]

Originally Posted by mawipafl

I don't intend to be snide nor sarcastic nor do I want to downplay the enthusiasm for the game of football, but I must have been absent from class on the day the lesson was taught that 1) a city is legimate only if it has a pro football team, and 2) there is pride in a team only when a corporate sponsor's name is plastered on the stadium, and 3) a team's level of play is based on whether they play or don't play in a stadium that is named because a company shelled out a bazillion dollars.

I'm not trying to be cynical or negative, but I just don't get whoopdedoo excited when two companies strike a financial deal that appears to benefit just the two of them.

Truly and honestly, I am trying to get the excitement. I don't understand why Everbank's name on the stadium is going to sell more tickets or send the Jaguars to the Super Bowl.

I seem to have such a narrow view of the whole thing. Everbank has $16+ million in an advertising budget to rent a "billboard" from Mr. Weaver who doesn't even own the "billboard". What am I missing?

And I'll try to answer your questions (non Jax-resident that I am LOL)...here where I hang my hat (Cincinnati-Dayton area) sports are a big time thing...each morning on my commute, I see Reds-Bengals-UC (Univ. Of Cincinnati)-XU (Xavier)-UK (Univ of Kentucky)-OSU (Ohio State) gear EVERYWHERE...I think the whole 'naming rights' phenomenon that has broken out (and apparently has come to Jax too) is all a part of an attempt to place a particular company's 'brand' thrust out into the spotlight...

For instance, the Reds old field was simply 'Riverfront Stadium'---which changed to 'Cinergy Field' before it bit the dust and was replaced by 'Great American Ball Park' after one of Cincy's bigger corporate presences bought the 'naming rights'...what Everbank has done, is no different than what Great American, or Citigroup (new Mets stadium) has done---attempted to place its' brand more prominently in the public eye...

Every time an event is held at those facilities, those corporate entities see not just Jags fans or Reds fans---they see potential customers for their products as well...I mean, the best and brightest example of, shall we call it, 'corporate product placement', is in NASCAR...LOL---when was the last time you saw a NASCAR race car with any empty space not slapped with a logo of some kind? The NASCAR marketing people are no dummies---they already know that their fanbase isn't all good ol' boys and girls, and they see them as potential customers for their racers' corporate sponsors...

But to close, and to address another of your points, I don't think a sports team/venue should be the sole reason a city and its' people feel good about themselves...those things should serve to enhance a city's profile, not be the only good face it presents to the world

[jsimms3]

The Jags put Jacksonville back on the map in a sense when we won the rights to the new franchise in 1993. Back then us winning this franchise was a very BIG deal because we beat out tons of bigger cities, and a few other bigger cities had recently lost teams, like Baltimore lost the Colts (which was horrible to them). We were lucky.

Yes the city spent a small fortune to rebuild the Municipal Stadium to be NFL compatible and I think the city issued bonds to finance much of that construction and they are still paying them off. Alltel paid very little for the naming rights. Then the city spent more money in the early 2000s preparing for the Super Bowl and upgrading the stadium.

But the Jags bring a huge economic impact to this town by not only keeping us on the map and in national discussions, but as long as games are not blacked out the city enjoys huge publicity and many fans from other teams come here to stay and spend money. Also the city collects fees from parking, concessions, ticket sales, etc, so in addition to the huge economic impact that fans bring here annually, the city collects more in fees than it spends to service debt that it took on to get the Jags and Super Bowl. Bottom line is that the Jags are a money maker for many businesses downtown and in the city overall and a money maker for the city.

Also, the Jags provide Jax citizens a unifying force to get behind. We can all root for the same team and represent where we live so to speak, so it adds some culture and adds to the quality of life by providing another entertainment venue.

Now I said all of that because we were closer to losing the Jags than even most people think. This year was sort of viewed as a make it or break it year for Jacksonville hosting the Jaguars franchise in the NFL's eyes, particularly Roger Goodell the commissioner. The NFL has been growing weary of us not selling out games and not having naming rights and us having poor fans, because portions of the Jags proceeds also go to the NFL to be shared by all teams, and we were not pulling our weight.

That is why you have seen Team Teal and Touchdown Jacksonville and this recent naming right happening this year even though talks about it have been going on and off for years, etc. Everyone is pulling together in a team effort (citywide effort since we are all on the same team) to sell tickets and to get those naming rights. That is why it's a big deal.

If we were to lose the Jags, we can kiss this city goodbye for a generation because the Jags provide some major umph to our town and companies take that into consideration and people who normally might pass by Jax take a second look. It actually makes me swell up with hometown pride to see the level of enthusiasm in this town that I have missed since 1999, the last year I would consider this town having any pride at all and one of the last years the Jags played really really well. We should not have to be embarassed about our town which takes heat from all people from all sides and losing the Jags would be the ultimate embarassment. Instead we should be proud and work to make the Jags a true Jacksonville legacy.