The Jaguars - How Jacksonville Became an NFL City

[Lucasjj]

On another note, I think they did a good job with the new uniforms. Matter of fact, I got a new Maurice Jones Drew jersey yesterday for my birthday, to replace my old style one that had completed it's life span.

[finehoe]

The Jaguars bring over $200 million dollars to this city per year.

Source, please.

[ralpho37]

Regarding the Jags not being near the bottom in attendance over the years, check out this year's attendance in Jacksonville...

http://espn.go.com/nfl/attendance

Granted, it's unfair that the national media is jumping all over us for not filling the stadium.  But, at the end of the day, the people of Jacksonville have got to wake up and quit blaming other people for our own problems.  The fate of the Jaguars lies in the fans' hands.  Period.  It's time to quit making excuses and support your team.

[Wacca Pilatka]

Regarding the Jags not being near the bottom in attendance over the years, check out this year's attendance in Jacksonville...

http://espn.go.com/nfl/attendance

Granted, it's unfair that the national media is jumping all over us for not filling the stadium.  But, at the end of the day, the people of Jacksonville have got to wake up and quit blaming other people for our own problems.  The fate of the Jaguars lies in the fans' hands.  Period.  It's time to quit making excuses and support your team.

You're right, of course.  I think the posters on not being near the bottom over the years were just making a point about a double standard in media coverage.

[ralpho37]

Yeah I figured that, but my point is that we are abysmally lower than even the next lowest team.  Take a look at the percentage of capacity too.  That's a very frightening statistic.

[ac]

The Jaguars bring over $200 million dollars to this city per year.

Source, please.

Here's one.

http://jacksonville.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/stories/2009/11/02/daily27.html

Peyton said keeping the team here is a vital economic issue.

”The Jaguars organization has a $200 million-plus economic impact on this community and in terms of national image, philanthropic support and community pride, has contributed more to Jacksonville than any other entity,” he said.

[copperfiend]

Yeah I figured that, but my point is that we are abysmally lower than even the next lowest team.  Take a look at the percentage of capacity too.  That's a very frightening statistic.

I don't think we have more empty seats at our home games than a team like Oakland, Detroit or St Louis. The main difference is our seats are unsold. The NFL attendance figure is tickets distributed no actual attendance.

[finehoe]

The Jaguars bring over $200 million dollars to this city per year.

Source, please.

Here's one.

http://jacksonville.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/stories/2009/11/02/daily27.html

Peyton said keeping the team here is a vital economic issue.

”The Jaguars organization has a $200 million-plus economic impact on this community and in terms of national image, philanthropic support and community pride, has contributed more to Jacksonville than any other entity,” he said.

Uh, I meant some actual statistics, not just a quote from someone who has an obvious bias.

[ac]

AFAIK, those numbers came from the CoC, and have not been published.

Speaking of obvious bias, would it matter whether someone can produce the numbers you desire?

[copperfiend]

The Jaguars bring over $200 million dollars to this city per year.

Source, please.

Here's one.

http://jacksonville.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/stories/2009/11/02/daily27.html

Peyton said keeping the team here is a vital economic issue.

”The Jaguars organization has a $200 million-plus economic impact on this community and in terms of national image, philanthropic support and community pride, has contributed more to Jacksonville than any other entity,” he said.

Uh, I meant some actual statistics, not just a quote from someone who has an obvious bias.

I know someone else who has an obvious bias.

[stjr]

Here is an interesting statistic.  For 2009, so far, the Jags are THIRD in the NFL in percentage of attendance capacity on the ROAD at 100.7 percent, only behind the NY Giants and the Seattle Seahawks.  Maybe our opponents fans either figure we are a sure win for them to go witness or we have a lot more closet fans around the country than in Jax.  Go figure.

[stjr]

Here is some Jax football history I previously posted on another MJ thread about area football history ( http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,5489.0.html#quickreply ).  I attended the second one of these games in 1969 and have one of these programs and in it the mayor's letter of welcome speaks to our aspirations for a pro football team.

AFL * ALL STAR GAMES * in Jax:




"Joe Namath Sneaks Over for the Winning Score"

Season: 1967
Date: January 21, 1968    
Score: East, 25-24
MVP's: Offense: Joe Namath, QB, Jets; and Don Maynard, F, Jets;  Defense: Speedy Duncan, DB/KR, Chargers
Location: Gator Bowl, Jacksonville, Florida

The largest AFL All-Star Game crowd in history witnessed the 1968 game. A crowd of 38,500 showed up at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, FL. It was a game of old and new. The old being George Blanda of Oakland at age 40 and the new being Joe Namath, the young superstar of the league.

In the first quarter, San Diego’s Leslie “Speedy” Duncan fumbled a punt at his own 25 yard line. The East quickly turned it into a 10 yard field goal by Mike Mercer of the Bills. It would only take about 10 seconds for Duncan to redeem himself. Speedy took the ensuing kickoff at his own ten, shot up the middle, eluded George Saimes of Buffalo and went 90 yards for the touchdown. In the second period, Daryle Lamonica of Oakland hit Willie Frazier of San Diego for a 3 yard touchdown pass. Joe Namath of the Jets kept the East in the game with a 35 yard touchdown pass to his NY teammate, Pete Lammons. But, Lamonica answered, hitting another Charger, Lance Alworth, from nine yards out. When Mercer connected on his second field goal, this time from 33 yards with :37 to go, the West held a 21-13 halftime lead.

Len Dawson of the Chiefs took over for Lamonica in the third quarter, but neither team could sustain any offense. The West appeared to ice the game in the fourth quarter when George Blanda of Oakland hit a 28 yard field goal to put the West up 24-13. This especially with the fact that Namath was having trouble finding his receivers. But, Namath connected with fellow Jet, Don Maynard, for a 24 yard touchdown pass. The attempted two point conversion failed and the score was 24-19. By this time, there was concern among the crowd and players that West coach, Lou Saban of Denver, should reinsert Lamonica into the game to get the West going. But, Saban elected to stick with the pre-game plan of playing each quarterback for a half. With two minutes to play, Larry Garron of Boston, a last minute addition to the East squad, took a pass from Namath and carried it 26 yards to the West ten. Garron then gained three to the seven and Houston’s Hoyle Granger bulled it 6 yards to the one. Namath scored the game winning touchdown on a sneak with :58 left. Again, the two point attempt failed and the score was East 25, West 24. Lamonica came back into the game and drove the West within field goal range. But, ageless Blanda, the AFL’s scoring leader for 1967, just missed the attempt from 35 yards at the final gun, wide by inches.

Namath and Maynard shared the offensive MVP honors. Namath established a record by throwing for 249 yards and Maynard’s 128 receiving yards was also a record. Duncan was elected the game's defensive MVP and his 90 yard kickoff return was also a record.

Season: 1968
Date: January 19, 1969    
Score: West, 38-25
MVP's: Offense: Len Dawson, QB, Chiefs; Defense: George Webster, LB, Houston Oilers
Location: Gator Bowl, Jacksonville, Florida

The 1969 AFL All-Star Game was played in the aftermath of the most marvelous event in the history of the young league. The previous week, the New York Jets had defeated the NFL’s Baltimore Colts for the world championship. The East squad was loaded with Jets players. A record crowd of 43,800 saw the game at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville. The coaches were Hank Stram of Kansas City for the West and Wally Lemm of Houston for the East.

In the first quarter, Joe Namath of the Jets and John Hadl of the Chargers led their teams. The scoring was confined to a field goal per team as New York’s Jim Turner connected from 27 yards out for the East and Jan Stenerud of Kansas City hit a record 51 yarder for the West. The East did all the second quarter scoring as Jim Kiick of Miami carried the ball in from the two and Turner connected on three more field goals from 16, 19 and 13 yards. The halftime score was 19-3. Hadl completed only 4 of 19 passes for 23 yards in the half and had three intercepted. Namath, meanwhile, completed 7 of 18 for 98 yards and had one intercepted.

In the second half, Bob Griese of Miami assumed the quarterbacking duties for the East, Len Dawson of Kansas City for the West. Dawson had not originally been chosen for the team (although he had led the league in average yards gained during the season), but Coach Stram exercised his option and chose Dawson as a backup. Dawson hit Bob Trumpy of the Bengals on a 6 yard touchdown route to bring the West to within nine at 19-10. Turner booted his fifth field goal of the game from 18 yards in the third quarter and that was matched by Stenerud, who hit from 30. The score at the end of the third quarter was 22-13. Turner gave the East some cushion at 25-13 when his kick from 21 yards out was good early in the fourth quarter. It was Turner’s sixth field goal on the afternoon. But, then the floodgates opened. In 6:15, the West scored 25 points. It started when Denver’s Floyd Little took a pass from Dawson and scampered 81 yards down the sideline to the East one yard line. Oakland’s Hewitt Dixon carried it in from there. The score was 25-20. Jim Lynch of the Chiefs then recovered an onside kick at the East 43, Dawson hit Warren Wells of Oakland for 37 yards and Cincinnati’s Paul Robinson (AFL rookie of the year) carried over on a one yard run few plays later. The West had the lead for the first time. Lynch then intercepted a Griese pass and ran 37 yards to the West one where Robinson again carried it in. Stenerud added a 32 yard field goal, his third on the afternoon, in the closing minutes and the final was 38-25.

Dawson was selected as the offensive player of the game. He was 4 of 9 for 158 yards in the second half. Houston’s George Webster was selected as defensive player of the game.

See following articles:
http://www.mmbolding.com/BSR/The_1968_AFL_All-Star_Game.htm

http://www.mmbolding.com/BSR/The_1969_AFL_All-Star_Game.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Football_League_All-Star_game

[ac]

stjr, that's why it kills me to see four decades of desire for pro football in this city potentially fizzle out like this.

It feels like we're just a bunch of spoiled children who wanted the pet for so long, begged for it; now we've had it long enough for the 'fun' factor to wear off, and the realization it takes work and commitment to care for it has set in.  So we're going to just abandon it on the side of the road somewhere.

Typical Jacksonville.

[tufsu1]

Express date was wrong, Memorial Stadium is actually correct because it was technically a renovation in the 1950's

And Yes, March 29th 1984 is DEFINITELY correct.

Using this logic, Jax. Municipal Stadium is also from the 1920's....but its not, because these aren't like the many renovations of old Yankee Stadium.

Check the wikipedia page for info. on the Baltimore stadiums

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Stadium_(Baltimore)

[Steve]

^True, however I thought it was important to list it that way, because Bob Irsay used this argument when pushing for a new stadium.