Jax Loses College Football Championship Bid b/c .......

[Bill Hoff]

......of lack of entertainment, hotels, and appropriate convention center in Downtown Jax. I'd guess the Gator Bowl Association is now a Downtown revitalization advocate:

"Downtown doesn't have that great core [of hotel rooms]. "Ponte Vedra, the Beaches, Amelia Island and the Southside has that core. We need more hotel rooms, an entertainment center and a convention center downtown to compete for these events. Tourism and conventioneers are the keys."

The first playoff format for the highest division of college football calls for the CFP selection committee to pick four teams following conference championship games, with No. 1 playing No. 4 and No. 2 playing No. 3 in the semifinals.The first season of the playoffs have the semifinal games hosted by the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans and the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. The winners will meet in Dallas on Jan. 12, 2015.

The semifinal sites in 2015 will be hosted by the Orange Bowl (Miami) and Cotton Bowl (Dallas) and in 2016 by the Chick-Fil-A Bowl (Atlanta) and Fiesta Bowl (Phoenix).Jacksonville did not bid on semifinal games.The next chance to bid on the championship games in 2018 and 2019 will come in the spring of 2015. When Catlett asked if the city will bid then, he replied, "absolutely."

"Hopefully we'll have a few more downtown hotels, more entertainment and plans will have been made for a new convention center," Catlett said. "We're going to keep trying. The good news is now we know what they want."

Full story:
http://m.jacksonville.com/sports/college/2013-12-16/story/phoenix-tampa-beat-out-jacksonville-college-football-national

[tufsu1]

If this helps push the convention center idea forward (and the hotels that will follow) then I'm all for it

[Dapperdan]

Which makes Kahn's push for a hotel at the Shipyards site all the more crucial. Having a hotel within walking distance of your stadium is so crucial. I am literally salivating thinking of the potential if all the pipe dreams come true. A hotel, the space needle building, the ship museum, an aquarium, plus retail and a convention center. This would be absolutely huge.

[copperfiend]

Which makes Kahn's push for a hotel at the Shipyards site all the more crucial. Having a hotel within walking distance of your stadium is so crucial. I am literally salivating thinking of the potential if all the pipe dreams come true. A hotel, the space needle building, the ship museum, an aquarium, plus retail and a convention center. This would be absolutely huge.

Even if most of that gets built, we are talking what? 5-10 years until completion? By that time, the lease on the stadium is up and the Jaguars may be looking to build a new one.

[duvaldude08]

The items listed will continue to plague us. I had a gut feelings those things were going to come up. As far as the stadium, the purpose of getting the 63 million of renovations now, is to avoid having to build another stadium in 10 years. So thats not going to happen. As long as you keep upgrading your stadium, you dont have to build another one. The Saints and Packers stadiums are perfect examples of that. 

[KenFSU]

Does anyone know what the occupancy rate is like for the existing hotels downtown? Can downtown Jacksonville currently support an additional hotel on the Shipyards property, as well as the proposed Laura Street Courtyard by Marriott, 365 days a year? Fantastic if it can, but the past few Olympics have kind of demonstrated the dangers of building out for a specific event.

[thelakelander]

If we're talking about a hotel the size of the Omni, Wyndham or Hyatt then no. 

[tufsu1]

Which makes Kahn's push for a hotel at the Shipyards site all the more crucial. Having a hotel within walking distance of your stadium is so crucial.

which is what makes the selection of Tampa somewhat odd....it was used as a reason/excuse Jax didn't get picked but Tampa doesn't have a hotel within 3 miles of their stadium

[fsujax]

lack of strip clubs! Tampa has plenty of those in walking distance from the stadium.

[Keith-N-Jax]

So that's the key!!

[RexMontana]

Y'all are really missing the true reason why Jacksonville was not selected to host this game or any other major sports or entertainment event. THERE IS NOTHING TO DO DOWNTOWN IN TERMS OF ENTERTAINMENT! We had the perfect chance when the Super Bowl was here to create an entertainment district on Bay Street from the Jacksonville Landing to the Sports Complex, but instead, the city of Jacksonville decided to put up something temporary. Look at any major city that wants to host a huge event, they create something that will be used for the event and something that can be used by the host city after tht event is over. Why can't this city understand the need for an entertainment district close to its major venues? People that go to the Jaguars games, the Florida-Georgia game, concerts and events like to have fun while they are in the area. Why not created an area close to those venues that offer reasonable places to eat, drink and support the hundreds of talented artists that live in our area? New Orleans is a great example of a city rich in music history that has embraced who they are with the French Quarter. Another example is Memphis with Beale Street. Both cities have entertainment districts close to the river and are thriving because they have an area tht people want to go to on a regular basis to celebrate and have fun. The Shipyards area is perfect for something like this, but like everything in Jacksonville, it will take 50 years for the city to realize what is has to offer. Jacksonville need to realize that it can't continue to live in the past! Every city is taking advantage of what they have to offer. Even little Saint Augustine is stealing all the major performing acts from Jacksonville to perform there. It's time for Jacksonville to wake up and smell the Maxwell House coffee!

[Keith-N-Jax]

ugh we know this already, thank you

[mtraininjax]

Catlett does not understand that we may never be the site of a National Championship. I'm OK with that, as it is not worth the pain, aggravation and bickering that I am sure will come with it. He may be better served going to Atlanta, Dallas, or Miami to pursue the dream, I'm OK with it not happening here to the tune of several hundreds of millions of dollars of Infrastructure.

But, that does not mean he cannot pursue the Gator Bowl as a top tier bowl game, which is why Verlander was brought in, to replace Catlett eventually, he can't take the GBA any further, which is why we have slipped as far as we have from top 10 teams to top 20 teams in our local game.

We should look at expanding the convention center downtown and work to go after events that will be great on the river with the rooms and amenities we do have, right now. Khan wants to add another hotel, fantastic, it would help with downtown, but chasing after something the city cannot afford (the mayor wants an NBA team) is not realistic when we can be very happy with simple improvements and enhancements.

We do very little with the river, and we should capitalize on our greatest asset.

[I-10east]

Maybe we lost the college football championship due to the water clarity at the beaches. JK, JK CityLife.

[goldy21]

Here's Tampa's bid presentation if anyone wants to check it out...

http://www.everydayshouldbesaturday.com/2013/12/17/5220102/how-tampa-won-the-2017-championship-game