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Despite a playoff win against the Steelers and a busy offseason the Jacksonville Jaguars are still finding it hard to sell tickets to their games.
Right now, according to the Florida Times-Union, the team is 4,000 non-premium season tickets away from ensuring that they’ll avoid blackouts in the 2008 season. These shortfalls are why the Jags are often mentioned among the teams that could relocate to Los Angeles.
The Jags have struggled to get strong attendance at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium throughout their life as a NFL team. They put up tarps to cover swaths of empty seats, but the Jags have struggled to fill the remainder. Two of their first three home games were blacked out of local television in 2007 and overall attendance dipped even though the team improved from eight to 11 wins.
“We’re getting all sorts of national media attention [for being a Super Bowl contender], and we’re entrusting that the marketplace will respond,” said Tim Connoll, the Jaguars’ senior vice president of business development. “It’s a late-buying crowd. What everyone keeps forgetting is you can’t hurry love. We’ve only been here 14 years. It takes time to develop things like Hail To the Redskins.”
It does take time to develop a fan base but if you can’t get the bandwagon jumpers when the team is good, what’s going to happen when the team takes a step backward?
June 9th, 2008 at 10:49 am
I live in Jacksonville (moved from Green Bay), and I’m kind of astounded that selling out is a problem for a professional football team. That being said, this does seem like more of a college sports town, even though Gainesville is more than an hour away.
I do know the Green Bay game is sold out for non-season ticket holders, as all of the group seats were scooped up. I just think that the Texans and Titans, while division rivals, really don’t create a sexy matchup, and I don’t think the Jags have that “superstar” player that people will pay to see.
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Rating: 4 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
June 9th, 2008 at 10:55 am
On the other hand, to be only 4,000 tickets shy of the blackout threshold based only on season tickets is a pretty big improvement over this time last year, is it not? I am pretty sure there were weeks last year where the team had to sell 4,000 or more tickets in one week to get the blackout lifted. I’m pretty sure they haven’t opened single-game ticket sales yet. So… better off now than this time last year, and the economoy sucks. I’ll take that, for right now.
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
June 9th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Wayne Weaver did a heck of a sales job to get the NFL to come to Jacksonville.
I’d love to have seen that presentation.
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Rating: 3.4 / 5 with 7 rating(s)
June 9th, 2008 at 11:02 am
It amazes me that people will pay to see the Dolphins at the Jets, but won’t pay to see Indy at Jax.
I’m not sold on Jax being a Superbowl contendor anyway. Yea, they are good, but not more than 10 or 11 wins. They can’t beat the class of the AFC, nor can they even win their division. Their recievers are underachievers and they just lost the D-coordinator.
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Rating: 2.35 / 5 with 6 rating(s)
June 9th, 2008 at 11:10 am
I always thought Jacksonville having a NFL team was a mistake. Seems to of always been a college town, not a pro sports caliber city.
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Rating: 2.8 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
June 9th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Is o.k. with me, send the Jags to Los Angeles and bring the GATOR, YES SIR.!
GO GATOR
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Rating: 2 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
June 9th, 2008 at 11:17 am
estronsman,
You might be astounded that the team “struggles” to sell tickets, but Jacksonville puts a higher percentage of its population in the seats than possibly any other NFL team. That’s not easy in a fairly blue-collar/military town.
As far as Jacksonville being a college town, that’s a myth. We love our Gators, Dawgs and Noles, to be sure, but something like 8 of the 10 highest rated television events in Jacksonville history are NFL games. The college games that are played here are generally mostly attended by out of town fans and games like the Gator Bowl do not sell out unless there is a local team in the game.
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Rating: 4 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
June 9th, 2008 at 11:26 am
What’s bad is the Jag’s, Panthers and several other teams will have trouble with attendance this year because of gas prices. Because much of their fan base comes from up to 100 miles away for a game.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
June 9th, 2008 at 11:48 am
I’ve been to Jacksonville twice traveling through Florida on vacation.
I’ve been up and down the East Coast, what is the difference between Jacksonville and any of the other podunk towns along the way?
No offense to people from Jax (Jacksonvillians? Jacksonians? LOL!) but your downtown, your little Inner Harbor thing looks like a small scale model of what we have in Baltimore.
I know I don’t live in the biggest town either and maybe I’ve always hated the Jags because that should of been my town’s team, instead Cleveland hates us now (although we did win a Super Bowl so in hindsight I wouldn’t change a thing)
But Jax was a mistake of a franchise, defined when they had to get Cruise ships because the town (not City) couldn’t handle all the vistors.
Realignment is perfect now, getting a present team to LA will not be easy.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
June 9th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Unfortunately the article is offline now, but The Buffalo News had a great story on small market teams last November that mentioned Jacksonville’s greatest obstacle is its stadium. Relatively speaking, I think there’s sufficient interest in the Jaguars. Interest isn’t the problem. Stadium size is the problem.
From the aforementioned article: “When we have a stadium the size we have in Jacksonville,” says Connolly, “we literally have to have one person out of every 10 households to be at our game. If that same market penetration were true in New York City, the Jets would have 800,000 people at every game.”
That said, the stadium the team has now is what they have to work with. Unless enough tickets can be sold, they’ll never be able to shed this idea that the team landed in the wrong city. The tarps reduced the number of available seats, but they also give a bad impression. Someone needs to come up with a more creative way to resolve this situation that doesn’t involve shipping the team across the country.
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Rating: 4 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
June 9th, 2008 at 11:59 am
The NFL has made 2 mistakes with regards to Jacksonville. (1) Putting an NFL team there in the first place. (2) Having a Super Bowl there. After 14 years they don’t have a solid fan base they probably never will. They have an currently have an outstanding team and don’t have a season ticket waiting much less have the stadium sold out? As for the Super Bowl - ask anyone who was there - Jax is not a Super Bowl town. The Jags will be in LA within the next couple of years.
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Rating: 2.25 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
June 9th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
First off, LA would be no better. That city has proved time and again that they could give two craps about the NFL. I say put them in detroit and dismantle the lions.
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
June 9th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
But I will say one thing, they sure play in a tough division, and they get the Titans & Colts once a year. And they win.
They should sell the place out.
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Rating: Not yet rated
June 9th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Cali-Fornia! Knows how to party….Californiaaaaaa knows how to party!
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
June 9th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
What the hell is Weaver doing wrong? This team isn’t all that bad to watch.
Unlike Boston, it seems to be more of a college sports town. Here in Beantown the BC Eagles win national championships in hockey, no one cares. But then again it’s hockey to begin with. The football team did extremely well with Ryan, but no one really cared. I won’t get into the women’s basketball team as they draw no interest in ANY city.
Anyway, I would be shocked if the Jags fan base doesn’t step up, but then again I don’t know what the tix go for in that market.
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Rating: Not yet rated
June 9th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Kali, southern end, is soccer country now. assess the demographics.
who cares if the jags sell out? if they are making enough $, they will stay.
maybe they should dismantle some seating and out a big freaking jaguar cage in there. that would be more entertaining than looking at a tarp.
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
June 9th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
You can’t hurry love? Its been 14 years! How long do they want to establish a fan base? Move ‘em.
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Rating: 2.75 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
June 9th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
It’s June 9th and we are suppose to be concerned that 4000 no premium tickets are still available? The funny part about that article from the Times Union is according to jaguars.com ticket sales are much higher than they’ve been in years. Single game tickets have not even gone on sale yet. The majority of people I know and work with can’t afford season tickets, but go to 2 or 3 games a year. This is much to do about nothing and it only feeds the fire of negativity nationally. There will be no unsold seat by September. In fact once single game tickets go on sale there will be no seats within a week. This article should be filed under the BFD section of PFT.
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Rating: 4.15 / 5 with 6 rating(s)
June 9th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Wayne Weaver,
Please stop ****ing around and bring your team to beautiful, sunny Los Angeles!
Signed,
A guy who lives in Los Angeles
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
June 9th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Heeeelllllloooooo LOOOOSSSS AAAANNNNGGEEELLLLEEEEESSSS! they can play at the HOME DEPOT FIELD!
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
June 9th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
If it weren’t for the Jaguars, how many Americans would actually know where the hell Jacksonville is?
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
June 9th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
JDSLINGIN, this is exactly why they need to move - look at the season they had and they are not sold out. Most clubs have a waiting list for season tickets. The Jags almost go to the Super Bowl and there are still season tickets available. I’m afraid they will be moving somewhere soon.
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Rating: 2.35 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
June 9th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
F**k LA. Jacksonville has less than a million citizens, but single game tickets aren’t even available yet. With Pittsburgh, Minny, Green Bay and Indy on the schedule.. I wouldn’t worry about blackouts. Jacksonvillians are procrastinators, but they love their Jags. Those seats will be sold. This IS a Super Bowl caliber team with a QB that has been “razor sharp” by all accounts in mincamp and OTAs. And if Maurice Jones-Drew and his 24 TDs over the past 2 seasons don’t indicate star power, I cannot help you.
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Rating: 4 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
June 9th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
The Jags struggling to get fans into their seats is just another reason why that franchise should move to LA.
The Jags had a really good year last season, a lot of people said that they could go a long way in 2008. and If they are still struggling after a season like last year then they will always struggle.
Time to take the jags to a city who’s dying for a team.
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Rating: 2 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
June 9th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
tssjj2000 I disagree. All that matters is butts in the seats. Whether or not those butts by their tickets today or in late August is irrelevent. The stadium will be sold out once single game tickets go on sale.
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Rating: 2.5 / 5 with 2 rating(s)