JACKSONVILLE – Wayne Weaver, the owner of the financially strapped Jacksonville Jaguars, can envision a day not too far down the road when Orlando could become his team’s second home.
We’re not just talking about the current setup where Central Florida is designated as a “secondary” television market for the Jaguars. No, we’re talking about the Jags actually coming to Orlando to play football games – real, live regular-season NFL football games.
In a recent interview with the Sentinel, Weaver said the NFL is likely to add two games and go to an 18-game regular season within the next three years. If it happens, Weaver, whose team is already struggling mightily to sell tickets in Jacksonville, is keeping a watchful eye on football-starved Orlando as a place where he could play games and grow his fan base.
“There’s certainly the possibility that we would play some out-of-market games,” Weaver said. “If it happened, Orlando would be the best option and most reasonable location.
“In the past, we have reached out to try and cultivate that market and haven’t had as much success as we would have liked. We probably need to do a better job. That’s a given. We are looking at a long-term strategy and thinking out of the box on how we can build a fan base in Orlando.”
You hear that, Orlando?
You hear that Rich Crotty and Buddy Dyer and all you other movers and shakers?
You guys want a legacy? Bring the NFL to Orlando and you will have your legacy.
Instead of building fake bridges, we should mobilize immediately to figure out a way to build a real football stadium for a real NFL team.
This is our opening.
This is our chance to get our foot in the door with the NFL.
And once your foot is in the door maybe you can get your name on a team.
The Orlando Jaguars sort of has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?
Granted, it’s premature evacuation to predict the Jaguars will leave Jacksonville someday. But it’s certainly not premature to say the Jaguars are currently in deep financial trouble in Jacksonville. Nobody is rooting for the Jags to ultimately fail in Jacksonville, but if they do Orlando should be ready to pounce.
Weaver’s scenario is a first step: The NFL goes to an 18-game format with the Jags playing a package of regular season and preseason games in Orlando. The Jags get to tap into the Orlando market; we get a taste of the NFL. How cool would it be to go see the Jags-Dolphins in Orlando? Or Jags-Bucs? Or Jags-anybody? It’s the NFL, for crying out loud.
Weaver wouldn’t be the first owner to move games to a bigger, nearby market. The Buffalo Bills are playing preseason and regular season games in Toronto over the next five years. This strategy serves two purposes: It allows the Bills to introduce their brand to an enormous group of new fans. And it serves notice to the old fan base to either start buying tickets or their team could move elsewhere.
Weaver, of course, would never threaten to leave. In fact, he has been extremely loyal to Jacksonville and seems determined to keep the team in North Florida. But he’s already announced that all eight of the team’s home games this season are non-sellouts and will likely be blacked out on local television.
In the home opener against the defending NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals, the Jags “distributed” only 46,520 tickets. We’re talking “distributed” not “purchased.” How long can Weaver continue to keep his team in Jacksonville under these circumstances?
Yes, the economy is bad and Jacksonville’s growth has stagnated, but it’s deeper than that. NFL sources say the Jaguars have been alarmed for years about their shrinking season-ticket base. Even in the late 1990s — when Jacksonville’s economy was good, the city’s population was growing and the team was a powerhouse — season-ticket sales continued to fall.
There’s a growing concern that the NFL may have miscalculated by putting a franchise in Jacksonville 15 years ago. The question is being asked around the league: Does the city have the passion and the people to support pro football?
It’s reached a point where even Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton made a public plea recently urging fans to buy Jags tickets.
“It’s hard to imagine not having this team here,” Peyton said. “We need to do a better job citywide supporting this team.”
Jacksonville’s vulnerability is Orlando’s opportunity. This is our once-in-a-lifetime shot to become part of the king of all pro sports leagues. It’s understandable why Weaver wants to cultivate Central Florida. We are the 19th-ranked TV market in the country; Jacksonville is 47th. Besides Los Angeles, Orlando is the nation’s biggest market without an NFL team.
This should be the impetus city leaders need to somehow find a way to expedite the process of imploding the embarrassingly dilapidated Citrus Bowl and building an NFL-ready football stadium.
It’s not like we don’t need a stadium any way to adequately host our first-class college football bowl games, neutral site college games, World Cup soccer, etc. With the tourist economy slumping, what better time to invest in a venue that will actually lure 70,000 tourists to town on any given weekend?
Now, suddenly, there’s an even bigger reason to build a stadium.
We have a chance to attract NFL games.
And, if the opportunity presents itself, maybe even an NFL team.
The Jaguars brought the Super Bowl to Jacksonville a few years ago.
Don’t you know the NFL would love to hold its ultimate game – its weeklong convention of beautiful people — right here in the City Beautiful?
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer calls the possibility of the Jags playing games in Orlando “intriguing” and points out gleefully that Jags star Maurice Jones-Drew is the centerpiece of his undefeated fantasy football team.
But we’re not talking about fantasy football, Mr. Mayor.
We’re talking about the real thing.
The door is open.
Who’s going to lead us through it?
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