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Buried in Michael Silver’s report that the St. Louis Rams are for sale is an even bigger potential bombshell.
Citing an unnamed “high-ranking league source,” Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver has solicited buyers in recent months.
Former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo, who now lives in the Tampa area and has made no secret about his interest in buying the Buccaneers, told Silver that he’s skeptical Weaver will sell.
“I think [he’ll sell] every year, but it doesn’t happen,” DeBartolo said. “I get the feeling that Wayne really wants a Super Bowl, and every year he keeps thinking, ‘It’s gonna be the year,’ and he decides to keep them.”
It has long been believed that the Jaguars are one of the teams that could be moved to Los Angeles.
May 20th, 2008 at 10:07 am
This is the same garbage rumor that is always circulating about the Jags. Despite the nation’s view of Jacksonville as a college football town that can’t support an NFL franchise the team is adored here in Jacksonville and isn’t going anywhere. Wayne Weaver knew when he began the franchise that it would take time for the team to build a diehard fanbase and I seriously doubt he has had a change of heart now, after spending more in this off-season than any other time this decade. The team wants to make a play for the Super Bowl this year. It’s not being sold.
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May 20th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Tough choice - they can either not sell tickets in Florida swampland or not sell tickets in LA.
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May 20th, 2008 at 10:23 am
THIS IS TOTAL BS..EVERY YEAR FOR THE LAST 6 YRS THIS RUMOR COMES OUT. WAYNE WEAVER HAS NO INTENTION OF SELLING THE JAGS. BECAUSE WE ARE THE SMALLEST MARKET IDIOTS TRY TO ASSUME. JAG FOOTBALL IS STRONG IN JACKSONVILLE. CONSIDERING OUR POPULATION IS AT ONE MILLION AND WE PUT 6-7% OF THAT IN THE STADIUM EVERY SUNDAY. CAN OTHER FRANCHISES SAY THAT?????
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May 20th, 2008 at 10:31 am
I would imagine that the two cities that perhaps would have the most interest in an NFL franchise is San Antonio and Los Angeles.
Even if LA gets their team, that doesn’t mean that other teams won’t be moving.
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May 20th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Maybe Wayne’s floating the rumor to keep fans invested in Jax?
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May 20th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
This is the team that needs to be moved. Everyone talks about the Saints moving, but they sellout of every game and has a 30,000 waiting list for season tickets. On the other hand the Jacksonville Jaguars can’t consistently sell out their home games! They are constant blackouts in Jacksonville. In orrder to sell out home games they had to Tarp off the Upper deck to reduce the seating capacity what a joke! Jacksonville will always support the Florida Gators more than the Jags. Never understood why the nfl expanded to Jacksonville in the first place!
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May 20th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Michael Silver has been trying to sell this idea for years and I have seen no credible evidence to support it. I have seen no other (alleged) writer recounting conversations on this topic. Wayne and Dolores Barr Weaver do more for the 17 counties that neighbor Jacksonville than most other owners do for their communities. Selling the Jags would jeopardize their long standing charitable relationship with the north Florida/south Georgia market. I cannot see them abandoning this “other” side of their work or selling a team primed for the playoffs just because a proven hack slips a blurb in an article citing an unnamed source. He should spend his time on what he knows. Sucking up to the Dan Snyder’s and Robert Kraft’s of the world.
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May 20th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Ryc30078 is right. I have been trying to get season tickets for two years now and im still on a waiting list. Beside the NFL is behing the rebirth of New Orleans, just like the NBA, I don’t think they would want to move the Saints. Also why would you move a team that has a huge fan base in the guld coast.
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May 20th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Tarps on seats??? Anyone who lives in Jacksonville knows that the stadium was built to hold college games with attendance upwards towards 90-100K. Fla / Ga, Gator Bowl and ACC Championship all are played in this stadium. Blackouts occured when the seats were uncovered. Covered we now have the same size stadium as everyone else.
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May 20th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I would think that selling either the Jags or the Rams would be much harder now that the owners have opted out of the CBA.
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May 20th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Simmer down Saints fans. We all know that pre-Katrina, your team was already packed up and headed to LA. Fortunately your city rallied around the team and showed up last year–and that’s a good thing. The NFL is too smart though to believe it’s going to last. The problem with comparing blackouts in Jax to other places is that Jax still fell right in the middle of the pack in attendance last year–NO WHERE near the bottom. You must understand the NFL’s blackout policy. If you don’t sell a certain percentage of non-premium seats (based on the capacity of stadium), then you get blacked out, regardless of how many tickets you sell. Case in point, Indy didn’t outsell Jax for one game last year, NOT ONE! Indy doesn’t get blackouts because of the stadium size. Jags will stay.
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May 20th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Disagree with 11ee87, The Saints were never headed to LA pre-Katrina. The Saints have never had any problems selling out games. Tom Benson has a sweetheart deal with the state. That deal basically means the Saints will always turn a profit. The Saints fan base are very loyal for team that has a history of mostly losing teams. The Jags problems are that they don’t have enough corporate sponsers to buy those luxury suites and boxes. Like I said earlier, Jacksonville will always put college football ahead of the nfl. People in South Georgia/North Florida could really careless about the Jags. Those people care about the Georgia Bulldogs and Florida Gators. Florida should only have two nfl teams anyway,The Tampa Bay Bucs and The Miami Dolphins.
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May 20th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Michael Silver has no credibility. Is there any legitimate reporter stating that Wayne Weaver has had discussions to sell the team? Did Adam Schefter say it? How about John Clayton? Sal Paolantonio? No. Michael Silver. That’s it. It’s the hearsay of a known sensationalist. How is this turning into a Saints vs. Jags thing?
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May 20th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Jacksonville is a college town. The Jags should move to Detroit, they haven’t had a pro team in years.
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May 20th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Kotite is right, ryc, you are wrong and you might not be aware of the history of the Saints. I recall back in the early 80s a group form Jax met with the NO owner about moving to Jax. NO has a consistent history, pre-Katrina, of having three fans in the stadium with bags over their faces inscribed with words “A’ints”. Bottom line is if the jags had as small of a stadium as Pittsburgh, Indy, or Minn., then there would be no discussion here. NO was in fact rumored to be on the way to LA, it is not in dispute. A lack of corporate sponsorship is not what creates blackouts. Again, its the non-premium seats. The corporate community here is behind the jags, no question. The jags will not have one blackout this year, guaranteed.
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May 20th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
RYC—your comment earlier about how NO has never had an attendence issue doesn’t match up against the facts. You came in 29 out of 32!!
Division: NFC South
Rank in NFL: 24
Rank in division: 3
The Saints camped out in San Antonio in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. Last year’s attendance figures aren’t included in the Saints’ totals, but the numbers from the previous nine years aren’t good. New Orleans is among four teams playing to less than 85 percent of capacity since 1996. Support factors (NFL medians in parentheses)
Overall support rank of 32 teams: 29
Average attendance: 59,193 (63,808)
Percent of capacity: 84.9% (94.7%)
Attendance fluctuation: 41.1 points (12.7 points)
Difficulty factors (NFL medians in parentheses)
Overall difficulty rank of 32 teams: 4
Winning percentage: .394 (.500)
Market population: 1.7 million (4.5 million)
Per capita income: $29,259 ($33,635)
December high temperature: Plays in domed stadium (52 degrees)
All figures are 10-year
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May 20th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
ths issue isnt sellouts. the issue is ticket revenue, if the jaguars mgmt has enough $ rolling in… who cares that much on sellouts.
jags are better than the fins and bucs combined.
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May 20th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
And if you act now you get Jerry Porter (a sorry excuse for a wide reciever)
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May 20th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Listen it is hard to move any team in the NFL. The Saints and the Jags have all been in one city. How many teams have been in L.A. Not defending the Jags, but people have been calling them a college town. What about L.A. and USC sounds pretty college to me. L.A. had their chance they shouldn’t get another. How about make two teams like Carolina and Jacksonville did. Toronto and LA maybe. And whoever said that it won’t last in New Orleans has never been down here and must be a idiot.
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May 21st, 2008 at 5:51 am
I always get tired of people calling Jacksonville a “college town.” The facts just don’t support it. Just because we have a lot of college games played here doesn’t make it a college town. And if we support the Florida Gators more than the Jaguars, how would you explain that more people in Jax watched the playoff game in Pittsburgh last year than watched the Gators win the National Championship the previous year?
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