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Jacksonville Jaguars Hurting in the Seats
 Jaguars ticket sales have fallen more than any other NFL team’s, and now the region has put together an effort to try to make sure the team doesn’t leave. [Photo: AP Photo / Steve Cannon] |
Working to land a professional football franchise in the early 1990s, Jacksonville’s business community put together a team effort called Touchdown Jacksonville. Business leaders helped build community support, corporations bought thousands of high-priced club seats and the community ultimately convinced the NFL that Jacksonville was ready for a team.
Nearly two decades later, local leaders are dusting off the old playbook. They’ve re-formed Touchdown Jacksonville, this time to try to keep the Jaguars.
Jags’ ticket sales have fallen more than any other team’s in the league. Locals blame the economy rather than the team’s sluggish season. But whatever the reason, scant sales meant Jacksonville was the only team in the NFL whose season opener wasn’t broadcast locally on TV this season because it wasn’t sold out.
More worrisome than TV blackouts is the growing national speculation that the city could lose the team. “The Jaguars put us on the map,” says Mayor John Peyton. He and others say the team has given the city greater civic pride, a higher national profile and countless other benefits, including hosting the 2005 Super Bowl.
Peyton has asked Carl Cannon, former publisher of the Florida Times-Union who led the first Touchdown Jacksonville effort, to lead this one. Cannon has different tools this time, like Twitter (@TouchdownJax) and Facebook (Touchdown Jacksonville: Revive the Pride!). But the basic idea is the same: Get Jacksonville’s heaviest hitters involved in supporting the franchise.
The Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce is carrying the ball, too, at the urging of many of its 4,000 members. “The Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce and the business community are not going to leave to chance something that is so key to our economic development and our recruiting efforts,” says Chairman Mike Hightower.
