Jacksonville Pride and the Renaming of Our Stadium

[fsquid]

The Jags, like every other NFL team, donate very large sums of money to various charitable organizations. I don't know what the break down is, but do you think those that receive from their hospitatlity want them to move?

[mawipafl]

I am sincerely grateful for your educated replies to my question -- truth be told, I was getting ready to duck, expecting some um blasts to head my way. But you've well-described a bigger picture. Much appreciated!

[Dappleganger]

Originally Posted by wb3690

I was reading some negative feedback on the first coast news website from readers and thought how stupid they sounded.

Unfortunately most people who reply on the First Coast News website as well as News4Jax tend to be racist bottom feeders.

[donisanasfan]

I would ad that in my opinion a mlb baseball team is a much more valuable commodity to a city then an nfl team. Just from a numbers standpoint, having 81 home dates to the nfl's 8. That's a lot more jobs at the stadium and a lot more fans spending more money over the course of a season. Not too mention just the emotional attachment fans tend to have with mlb teams that you just don't see in the nfl. Unfortunately Jacksonville will not get a mlb team in my lifetime. So I'll just continue to make the drive up to Atlanta, that is until Miami gets it's new ball park.

[abvavgjoe]

Originally Posted by 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.

Great post! Well written and I agree 100%.