When is Jacksonville's next Super Bowl?

[David]

From what I've read, Super Bowl bids have been submitted for the next 7 years seemingly locking it down until at least 2020.

We appear to be able to keep the lights on during a game at Everbank, so that's one plus we have going for us

And in my opinion, Downtown & Riverside have came a long way since we last hosted the 2005 Super Bowl. More night life options, more places to eat. 

Plus, it would help those leery fans feel a little better about the future of the franchise here in Jacksonville.

How is our hotel room count looking? I'd imagine that remains our biggest hurdle

[thelakelander]

The hurdles of 2005 are the same that remain today.

[David]

It'd be interesting to see if the NFL would considering the floating hotel rooms solution again. I know we're among the smallest Metro areas, but if Indianapolis is placing a 2nd bid for it we should at least throw our hat in the ring.

Future superbowl sites:

2014 East Rutherford, NJ

2015 Glendale, AZ

2016 San Francisco, South Florida

2017 Houston, San Fran, Miami

2018 Indianapolis, Minneapolis

2019 - Denver,  possibly Charlotte

It doesn't look possible until at least 2018, but in an ideal world, we could at least make a bid for it.

[KenFSU]

Jacksonville isn't a Super Bowl city. I love it here, but the reality of the situation is that we had to cheat to get there in 2005. The Super Bowl doesn't belong in a quiet, family-oriented city like this, but rather in a place like Miami (with South Beach), New Orleans (with the French Quarter), Tampa (with Ybor City), Southern California, etc. The recent exceptions seem to be a not so subtle thank you to cities who spend hundreds of millions of dollars on new stadiums.

In order to get the Super Bowl in 2005, we literally had to turn Jacksonville into a different city. Floating hotels. Fly-by-night entertainment districts. It wasn't genuine Jacksonville, and perhaps did the city more harm than good when so many major media outlets saw through it and tore the city to shreds.

It's far less glamorous, but I'd rather see efforts and focus go toward laying the footwork to make Jacksonville a truly great city in the long term, rather than spending the next five years trying to make it appear to be one leading up to another Super Bowl.

[Tacachale]

The NFL is clearly more willing to branch out into non-"Super Bowl cities" (whatever that means) than it has in the past. The issue in 2005 was hotel space and logistics; those things will change in time and we'll see another Super Bowl here at some point, though it'll be a while.

[David]

It's hard to argue with that. It was a pretty grueling week for us. I was showing someone around who had just moved here Super Bowl weekend in 2005 and when the mobile entertainment districts were deconstructed and downtown emptied out she said "is this what it's like normally?" I said yes, sadly.

Downtown has more of a pulse at night then it did back in 2005 though. And maybe the 2nd go around we wouldn't be so concerned with trying to impress the national media or have such an inferiority complex about being in the spotlight.

I haven't been to Indianapolis, so I’m speaking off the cuff here, but if they're able to do it, we should be able to as well. They're not on the same level as Miami, New Orleans either.

[thelakelander]

Indianapolis has a very vibrant and compact downtown.  Literally everything from retail, restaurants, bars, hotels, etc. is within short walking distance of their sports venues.  Unfortunately, our downtown's are polar opposites.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

I would post the article if I remembered where I read it, but Shad Kahn is on record as stating that another SB in Jax is not really high on his list of priorities.

Can you blame him?

As Lake mentioned, we still have the same problems:  Not enough hotel rooms, everything is spread out without a public option tying them together, not enough nightly events / venues, etc...

Indy seems to be a hot topic, but DT Indy is absolutely set up to host events such as the Superbowl, the NCAA Final Four, and other large events due to the way the city is set up, the available transit options, the central location of the stadium to other venues, etc....

Regardless, even if it's on the city's radar, the owner of the NFL team has no immediate plans for it, so I wouldn't even worry about it.

[KenFSU]

Yeah, I'd love to see the Super Bowl return and I could totally see it happening again, I just think that going after and ultimately hosting a Super Bowl would take so much focus away from doing other, more important things to assist Jacksonville's long-term growth. The next time we get the game, I'd like to see it happen organically, where the question isn't "Why have the Super Bowl in Jacksonville," but rather "Why not have the Super Bowl in Jacksonville?"

[David]

We could at least win the skyline battle:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/shots-of-indianapolis-skyline-to-depress-nation-du,17163/

Shots Of Indianapolis Skyline To Depress Nation During Final Four Broadcast

[thelakelander]

But here's downtown Indy at street level:

[David]

Touche. Well, if there's no convincing Jacksonville's advocates that we can get another Superbowl I suppose it's a lost cause then.

There's always the annual monster truck jam!