Can Jacksonville be a "Basketball City"?

[CityHallPub]

Does anyone believe Jacksonville is or could be a “basketball city”….or maybe even an NBA city?

If Jacksonville had an ABA (American Basketball Association) semi-pro team this year, would you attend games at the Arena?

[fieldafm]

No

Jax has had SEVERAL minor league basketball teams over the years.  They have played at venues such as the old Colliseum, UNF, Christ the King(yes, a grammar school gym), Ed Waters, FCCJ, etc.  All folded.  Sometimes the league folded, sometimes the team itself folded... but in all instances, the games did not draw well no matter the venue/league/team record.

Jax has great basketball at the Arena now.... JU Basketball.  And those average under 2k people for most games(been going to JU games since the magical year of '86).  Usually the UF or FSU game will draw in the 6-8k range and the annual free game Modis holds will put 6-8k butts in the seats.  JU in the past hosted UNC and Georgetown in the old Colisseum to very large crowds.

From what I understand, JU though gets a special economic deal to hold the games at the Arena(part of the schedule still includes games at the sweatbox Swisher Gym for lower drawing schools).... so I can't imagine a minor league basketball team being able to afford games at the Arena.

BTW, your guy Eric at CHP... cool guy.  Great asset to your establishment!

[KenFSU]

Right now, absolutely not. The NBA is my favorite professional sports team by a mile, and basketball would be my number one choice of sports to come to the city, but I just don't think it would be a success at this moment in the time. 10-15 years from now, maybe, but not now. Would rather hold out until it had a genuine chance of being successful than come too soon and fail.

Plus, I don't know how big of a basketball city Jacksonville is. The sports bar are always surprisingly slow for the NBA playoffs.

[copperfiend]

We will never get an NBA team in Jacksonville. Of all the major sports, it requires the most corporate support and people willing to spend big bucks on premium tickets. Neither of which, we would have. People in this town complain now when a Jaguar player signs a deal for 3-4 million a year. What would say this when an average NBA player gets 10 million?

This city's focus needs to be 100% on the Jaguars.

[duvaldude08]

Jacksonville will never have any other major sports team, unless the dynamics and mindset of the citizens change. Jacksonville does not support anything. But yet, we complain about what we don't have. The media had to throw us under the bus for us to get behind our football team like should, major concerts rarely come here because we enough people don't even buy enough tickets to fill the arena. I am a born and raised Jacksonville native and I have noticed that Jacksonville is a city of 800+ complainer's. Everybody wants to yell about the problem, but doesn't offer to be a part of the solution.

I am really thankful the NFL had faith in us and still does. The Jaguars are all we have and ever will have until the mindset of the city changes. PERIOD

[rjp2008]

No. I play hoops constantly and pickup games were impossible to find at times. There's almost no public courts at all on the southside outside of inside gated communities clubhouses. Football, baseball, fishing and hunting rule here.

JU has a good team though.

[copperfiend]

JU basketball is experiencing a revival right now. Coach Warren has done great things here. Seeing them beat Arizona State in the NIT this past season was amazing considering in 2005 they only won one game. And don't sleep on UNF either. Coach Driscoll made a great turnaround in his first year and they have resources available to them that JU does not.

[fieldafm]

No. I play hoops constantly and pickup games were impossible to find at times. There's almost no public courts at all on the southside outside of inside gated communities clubhouses. Football, baseball, fishing and hunting rule here.

JU has a good team though.

You should move to Riverside... Boone Park and Fishweir always have some pretty decent pickup games on the weekends 

Abbes Park usually has some decent games on the weekends around your neck of the woods.

[hanjin1]

i'm with everyone else, no way. i love basketball, was born in new york and love the chicago bulls, but there is no way that a team is given to jacksonville. jacksonville is known as a football town and we can barely fill the stand in our own stadium, what do you think the veterans arena would look like?

[JaxNative68]

^ like MCI Arena when the Wizards play . . . empty.

[WillNevaLeaveJAX]

I dont think that Jax is ready at the moment but i also dont think it will be long before we are ready!!! The two exhibition games held at the arena combined for a total of over 22,000 fans. Though those games were only preseason games, the arena holds a little over 14,000 ppl for basketball which means it should have been atleast 28,000 seats sold in the combined games to be sell-outs. And i believe the NBA requires over 20,000 seat arenas so that would mean atleast 40,000 for those two games to be sell-outs.

[tufsu1]

please...JU has been good for the past few years and can't get more than 2,500 fans for a regular game....Jax. is a long way off from being a b-ball city

[JaxNative68]

we could name them the Jacksonville Crickets, because that is all you would hear

[WillNevaLeaveJAX]

please...JU has been good for the past few years and can't get more than 2,500 fans for a regular game....Jax. is a long way off from being a b-ball city

JU doesnt really play anybody...but like mentioned earlier when they do play big named schools the crowd is much bigger...and also mentioned earlier, jax is not ready for pro. basketball YET but we are not "a long way" from there. AND i like basketball but you wont see me going to no boring low profile JU game but if you was talking about some big names like lebron or kobe or wade comin to town to play against our Jax NBA team then i would be the first person in the door and im sure there is a lot of ppl that feel the same way as me BUUUUUUT i dont believe there is ENOUGH ppl right now so like i said were not ready right now but i wont be long until we are!!!!

[heights unknown]

No thanks.  The Jaguars are enough.  Don't need anything else.  We have enough trouble fielding this NFL team.

"HU"