The Jacksonville Jaguars

[Tacachale]

I was wrong as well. I thought the attendance numbers would be up as well. It is clear that there are many ppl who would wanted to protest to players kneeling. The NFL & NFLPA have a big issue on their hands and they need to solve this issue soon. This is hurting the owners and players pocketbook. Premium seating revenue is included in the salary cap. So, if you have a thousand of people not buying tickets then you can expect a decrease in the salary cap if fans stay away.

I don't think it's clear at all. Though the Times-Union, for whatever reason, loves to put a good negative spin on anything Jaguars related, we're treading into potential correlation without causation territory here by inferring that national anthem protests are the reason attendance is down. Attendance was among the softest in years already for our home opener, prior to any national anthem controversy, at 61,110.

It's not uncommon for Jaguars attendance to be slightly higher than normal for the home opener, with a dropoff in attendance for the second home game. Last year, our home opener was attended by 63,179 people, with a dropoff of over 3,000 fans for the next game versus the Ravens, who travel really, really well. This year, attendance for the second game was down 4,800, against the L.A. Rams, who were already one of the worst traveling fanbases in the NFL before moving to Los Angeles.

It's not inconceivable that local interest in the Jags was down going into the season already, and the 1,800 fan difference was purely the result of differences in opponent fanbase.

We'll likely see attendance in the same ballpark for the Bengals game as well, another team that doesn't travel well. And I'm sure the local media will jump on the national anthem thing again, ignoring other possible contributing factors, like a decade of futility, Bortles as quarterback, heightened concussion awareness, domestic violence, escalating costs of attending NFL games, the onslaught of new competition for entertainment dollars, both nationally and locally (Daily's Place included), and our reliance on opposing fanbases to pad our attendance numbers.

Let's give it more than one game, by one wildly inconsistent team, at an off time of day, against an opponent that doesn't travel well, in a season where interest already appeared soft, before blaming the anthem for anything.

There's no reason the attendance would have dropped by 5,000 people from the first game, or for it to have plummeted to 2009 numbers, especially coming off of 2 big wins and the first real improvement we've seen in years.

Attendance and viewership is down (across the league) and polls show that the kneeling controversy is a significant factor in that. Yes, there are many other factors, but it's pretty plain that this is a big one.

[JeffreyS]

Fire Bortles, Meyers, the high school special teamers, and over paid and over hyped Marcedes Lewis, and while you are at it, the GM too.

Marcedes Lewis had three touchdowns a couple weeks ago. Also, that GM did draft Jalen Ramsey, Myles Jack, Leonard Fournette, and Cam Robinson. He also got Calais Campbell, Malik Jackson, AJ Bouye, and others. Yes, Caldwell missed on Bortles and that's going to be a large part of how he's judged. Myers and Nortman haven't been great either but let's be honest, Caldwell is far from the first GM to miss on kickers. Coughlin had a revolving door in 2002 at the kicking position -  I think they had four in one season.

From a personnel perspective over the last two years, the roster has dramatically improved. Asking this team to go from 3-13 to 13-3 in one offseason is a tough ask. I always felt this was about an 8-8 team this way. Now, the wins have been different than I expected - I never thought the defense would be this good.

I am not saying fire the GM but the problem isn't just that he missed on Bortles it's that every year he refuses to get a replacement.

[edjax]

Attendance was 56,232, the lowest of the Khan era. Unfortunately, NRW, you owe me a dollar.

Yep. 

I was just coming over here to acknowledge that.  The funny thing is...  I was there for both the opener and tonight and the stadium 'felt' and even looked more packed than the other day.  Even up to the missed FG, the lower bowls looked full-ish.

When I saw the attendance numbers I was honestly shocked.

Let's not forget that the attendance numbers the Jags provide are based upon tickets distributed.   As you recall for the opener they distributed 5,000 tickets to first responders.  You throw those extra tickets and there is the difference.   My guess is the ticket base is around 52,000 this year.  I am sure down from last year and justified with the on field product and less sales to ticket brokers this year with a much less appealing home schedule as far as from the standpoint of Midwest and East teams which have higher number of transplants here.  Assume many more Titan fans first game than Rams fans.  So I think attributing the lower attendance due to kneeling is being overblown.  But is makes the anti kneelers feel good so.....   my guess you had a few more not buy tickets who may have due to it after our better start to the season but fairly insignificant.  Also tons of people are not going to start buying tickets after a 3-2 start.  With the crap this team has put on the field the past decade it is going to take more than that to get the boardeline/casual fan back to buying tickets in significant numbers. 

[thelakelander]

Yeah, the anthem thing appears overblown at this point. Outside of the TU and a Fox News article mentioning the plane flying over EverBank, I haven't heard much about it recently. We'll need a few more weeks of data to see if there's actual direct impact.

[Tacachale]

^LOL, I'm sure that our best start to a season in 7 seasons has come with our lowest attendance in the same amount of time, after years of steady attendance, for reasons that are totally unrelated to the factor evident in both national and local polls.

If the kneeling controversy is a factor, things will improve over time. If we've seen a precipitous drop in attendance for, like, no discernible reason, we're in pretty deep trouble.

[MusicMan]

How was the attendance in Green Bay?  Denver?  Seattle?  Any place that usually plays to a capacity audience?   Maybe it's just here, cause our fan base is so "patriotic."

When was the last officially Sold Out Jaguars  game?  I've been going for 8 years now and it was 8 years ago I last remember anything that resembled a sell out.

[Tacachale]

There's no reason the attendance would have dropped by 5,000 people from the first game

This seems to validate what Edjax posted about 5000 tickets donated for the Titans game but not the Rams game. Thus, possibly offering another explanation other than kneeling. Seems reasonable. What am I missing?

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2732912-jaguars-owner-shad-khan-donates-1m-to-hurricane-irma-relief-5k-tickets

That is true, but the Jags often donate tickets (usually not 5k of them). You can even submit a request for them. But if that really is the main reason, and 56k is all they're going to draw this year, the team's in pretty serious trouble considering that our attendance is declining despite having the best start to a season in years.

[MusicMan]

If the quality of a product drops or remains poor for several years in a row there is no guarantee that the response/gross sales (in this case attendance) will increase for what is perceived as a temporary improvement to the product. 

The team has been poor for several years. This season appears to be an improvement based on 6 games (in Jacksonville 3-3 is an improvement). If the improvement seems more permanent attendance might go up.  Was there a protest outside the stadium by the thousands of highly offended season ticket buyers? I saw no evidence of that.

[Tacachale]

If the quality of a product drops or remains poor for several years in a row there is no guarantee that the response/gross sales (in this case attendance) will increase for what is perceived as a temporary improvement to the product. 

The team has been poor for several years. This season appears to be an improvement based on 6 games (in Jacksonville 3-3 is an improvement). If the improvement seems more permanent attendance might go up.  Was there a protest outside the stadium by the thousands of highly offended season ticket buyers? I saw no evidence of that.

Our attendance has been stable for years before this game.

[edjax]

If the quality of a product drops or remains poor for several years in a row there is no guarantee that the response/gross sales (in this case attendance) will increase for what is perceived as a temporary improvement to the product. 

The team has been poor for several years. This season appears to be an improvement based on 6 games (in Jacksonville 3-3 is an improvement). If the improvement seems more permanent attendance might go up.  Was there a protest outside the stadium by the thousands of highly offended season ticket buyers? I saw no evidence of that.

Our attendance has been stable for years before this game.

I think the attendance has been great over the past few years considering the shit show that has been the team.  But there are legitimate reasons the numbers are down. 61k for the opener as stated included 5k freebies.  As you note they give out freebies all the time but I don't think 5k is the norm. And my guess is there were the usual ones typically given out as normal too. Not to mention the opener is usually the,highest attended game because everyone is not Jagged out yet. Hope is eternal.  So to have 5k less than the opener was to be expected and very little to do with the kneeling.  Just shows that the overall sales this year are much lower and as stated should be expected due to team performance the past decade.  Yes they had decent attendance last year thanks to the Packer,  Bronco, Viking and Ravens fans that flocked to the stadium.  I recall being surrounded by Packer and Raven fans at those games.  And no a rather pedestrian 3-2 start while much better is not going to get the boarder line fans back yet.  Hell I was a Season One season ticket holder until this year.  I finally had had enough with the poor performance and going to games and dealing with high numbers of opposing fans.  I actually even thought of getting tickets to the Rams game but decided against it as thinking nah, they have to do more than this to get me back.  And I consider myself much more than a casual fan and I didn't bite.  Oh, and trust me while I may not be a fan of the kneeling it certainly did not even enter into my decision making.

[Snaketoz]

Fire Bortles, Meyers, the high school special teamers, and over paid and over hyped Marcedes Lewis, and while you are at it, the GM too.

Marcedes Lewis had three touchdowns a couple weeks ago. Also, that GM did draft Jalen Ramsey, Myles Jack, Leonard Fournette, and Cam Robinson. He also got Calais Campbell, Malik Jackson, AJ Bouye, and others. Yes, Caldwell missed on Bortles and that's going to be a large part of how he's judged. Myers and Nortman haven't been great either but let's be honest, Caldwell is far from the first GM to miss on kickers. Coughlin had a revolving door in 2002 at the kicking position -  I think they had four in one season.

From a personnel perspective over the last two years, the roster has dramatically improved. Asking this team to go from 3-13 to 13-3 in one offseason is a tough ask. I always felt this was about an 8-8 team this way. Now, the wins have been different than I expected - I never thought the defense would be this good.

Granted, Marcedes DID catch 3 TDs in a game, but at his pay level he should have done much more.  He has hands of concrete.  So many times I've seen him short arm catches he should have made, and he doesn't run good routes.  They have dismissed better players with better skills.  He is a big cap hit, and isn't earning his salary.  As for Meyers, he is pitiful.  The only thing he is good at is missing mid-range FGs and PATs.  Should have kept Scobee.  The GM has made some good picks.  It's just that after making a bad pick, he sticks with them too long.  Bortles should have been benched by now, BEFORE he is injured.  Henne could be a more accurate passer and hand the ball to RBs.  In fact, Bortles seemed to be as static as Henne this week.  He is lost.  Bortles is no better than Gabbert, or Leftwich.

[JaxAvondale]

There's no reason the attendance would have dropped by 5,000 people from the first game

This seems to validate what Edjax posted about 5000 tickets donated for the Titans game but not the Rams game. Thus, possibly offering another explanation other than kneeling. Seems reasonable. What am I missing?

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2732912-jaguars-owner-shad-khan-donates-1m-to-hurricane-irma-relief-5k-tickets

The 5,000 tickets to first responders seem reasonable. However, I would have expected an increase given that the team was in 1st place. Hopefully, the attendance improves for the next home game.

[blizz01]

Not sure why some are in denial about the impacts from the kneeling.  It's a thing. It's material.  It's substantive.  Perhaps it's the company I keep, but I couldn't convince 2 of my best mates to go yesterday - and it wasn't specific to the Jaguars, rather the NFL as a whole.  Instead, I had to listen to that fellow on the Fox broadcast say "Jagwahs" incessantly.  There was a plane flying a "Boycott" banner over the stadium...

[Keith-N-Jax]

Maybe people need to spend more time protesting social and racial injustices that's the only denial I see here or let's just look the other way as most whites have done for centuries.

[blizz01]

Right.  No impact.  Got it.  Let's keep protesting.  Hell, I suggest active duty servicemen and women give it a go each morning on base during the anthem.  First responders too, right before they enter your burning building.  Because, awareness.  Now, back to my "white privilege". Shame on me.