The Players Championship is Northeast Florida's signature event -- or is it?

[CityLife]

One Spark is below the Gator Bowl in daily attendance. It is not a top 5, top 10 event. Not yet.

Lots of cities have jazz festivals.  Too many cities host bowl games.   Lots of cities host golf tournaments (and The Players isn't even in Duval County).  One Spark is the one big event that Jacksonville has that isn't yet repeated elsewhere.  That alone makes it pretty special.

this.

plus both the jazz festival and the tpc crowds are aging and pre social media.

There is an event horizon, unfortunately, and just as people cannot really imagine the world before telephones and television, the new world will not be able to imagine things before social media.

One Spark is all new media and its having a global recognition factor.  For free almost.

The TPC spends a lot of money and there are millions of people who have never heard of the event because they don't play golf, and its not twittered.

Jazz Fest crowd is aging for sure. Even the New Orleans Jazz Fest has started transitioning into more of a cross genre festival instead of just Jazz and R&B. Last year they had Dave Matthews Band, Billy Joel, Willie Nelson, Fleetwood Mac, Phoenix, Black Keys to name a few. This year they had Bruce Springsteen, Arcade Fire, Phish, Santana, Vampire Weekend, and so on. Jax Jazz Fest will have to start going the same route to stay relevant going forward, simply because there really aren't too many big names in Jazz anymore.

TPC isn't aging at all though...possibly even the opposite is happening. There are probably more attendees under 35 than over 35. My mother in law was with me there on Saturday (who lives elsewhere), and said to me, "Why are there so many young people in Jacksonville". It is loaded with young people, just usually more of the business school, frat/sorority type crowds, as opposed to the more artistic, creative type crowds at One Spark or Art Walk.

Jax having two large events that cater to both types (and those that straddle both) is definitely a good thing.

[CityLife]

http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2014/04/21/the-players-championship.html

The Players Championship reached an important milestone last year: For the first time, more guests attended from outside the five-county area than inside, said Matt Rapp, executive director of the Players.

"We talk about Jacksonville, and one of the challenges is that people outside of Jacksonville don't understand just how great it is," said Rapp, who lived in the Jacksonville area for several years before taking over as executive director. "Well, the Players Championship can pull audiences from all over the world both in TV and also in person."

The Jacksonville International Airport has historically seen its biggest traffic during the week of The Players Championship, said Rapp, even counting major holidays like Christmas.

It doesn't stop there. Rapp said there are more hotel bookings and car rentals that week than any other time as well.

[CityLife]

Perdue isn't alone in seeing the tournament as a brand booster.

"More than 400 local, national and international businesses use the tournament to entertain clients, build relationships and network," Rapp said.

Of those 400,  more than 350 of those businesses are Northeast Florida businesses— businesses like Perdue, Sea Best and TacoLu.

The tournament generates an estimated $151 million  to the Northeast Florida region, according to the Jax Chamber.

http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2014/04/23/involvement-with-players-championship-is-an.html

[Tacachale]

I'd put TPC and Florida-Georgia about on a level, personally. The Players is more followed nationally, has the bigger economic impact, and draws more people over more days. Florida-Georgia draws more people in one day and it has the history and uniqueness (there are a number of high-profile golf tournaments, but few other games like Florida-Georgia).

I'm with the others who say that One Spark has the potential to get to that level if not beyond. It's definitely unique and it can draw a big crowd. I think Mtrain has an interesting point about adding paying events. I think something like a ticketed music festival or tech conference like SXSW has would add a new dimension and could greatly increase revenue.

[ProjectMaximus]

The lectures are ticketed, right? Just not well-attended.

The general event has to remain free though, otherwise you've countered the main purpose of One Spark which is to remove obstacles from connecting ideas with potential funders. ArtPrize generates some revenue through ticketed events and a membership club. www.artprize.org

[Tacachale]

^I meant more along the lines of adding new dimensions to the existing format that would be ticketed, like a conference or trade show or more substantial music festival, etc, that folks would be willing to pay for. I agree that the street festival should remain free. I expect they'll fall into a good grove, it's already one of the biggest events we've got after only 2 years.

[CityLife]

I think going the music festival route is a good idea and something I mentioned on here as something I'd like to see help grow the festival after the first one. The festival scene is just crazy these days and there really isn't an extremely popular diverse one in Florida yet. Hangout (Bama), Shaky Knees (Atlanta), Sasquatch (Washington), Governors Ball (NYC), Pitchfork (Chicago), and Firefly (Deleware) are a few relatively recent festivals that have solid lineups that would attract the type of millennials from around the state, southeast, and country that would be interested in One Spark...and that isn't even mentioning the established huge festivals like Bonnarroo, Coachella, Austin City Limits, and New Orleans Jazz Fest.

Obviously the founders of One Spark don't want a music festival to trump the intent of their event, but I think a 3 day Thursday-Sat night time festival during One Spark would really boost it and attract more out of towners. I'm going to a huge music festival in NYC in a few weeks (Governors Ball), pretty much on par with the lineups of Bonnarroo/Coachella this year...and the festival ends at 11 each night, with after parties and concerts at local clubs (mostly in Brooklyn). Similarly, I think One Spark could set up After One Spark shows at Florida Theater, TU Center, Elbow venues, MAAAAYBE Met Park, and possibly on street like Jazz Fest (paid only entry), and create a really cool urban music fest type component of the event.

Shaky Knees Festival was this past weekend in ATL (Atlantic Station) and in only its 2nd year had a lineup of: The National, The Replacements, Modest Mouse, Spoon, Alabama Shakes, Edward Sharpe, Local Natives, and quite few other fairly popular acts. If One Spark had even half of that lineup, it would do a lot to grow the event, create an even more unique experience, attract out of town guests, and perhaps bring in more revenue.

[ProjectMaximus]

^I meant more along the lines of adding new dimensions to the existing format that would be ticketed, like a conference or trade show or more substantial music festival, etc, that folks would be willing to pay for. I agree that the street festival should remain free. I expect they'll fall into a good grove, it's already one of the biggest events we've got after only 2 years.

Yeah, I figured thats what you meant I was just specifying that it should be something "in addition to."

Shaky Knees Festival was this past weekend in ATL (Atlantic Station) and in only its 2nd year had a lineup of: The National, The Replacements, Modest Mouse, Spoon, Alabama Shakes, Edward Sharpe, Local Natives, and quite few other fairly popular acts. If One Spark had even half of that lineup, it would do a lot to grow the event, create an even more unique experience, attract out of town guests, and perhaps bring in more revenue.

I think it will definitely be worth exploring, but just caution that it's tricky to bring a paid music festival component in to mix with the crowd funding festival's music category. It could definitely work but I wouldn't want to see the new big name festival completely overshadow the musicians who come seeking funding. For the aspiring artists there's a fine line between capturing the exposure that comes with big bands playing alongside you, and being completely trampled by them.
SXSW has obviously managed this carefully.

[tufsu1]

One Spark 2014 only a 1.8 million impact locally.

The quote was bad...the $1.8 million is purely based on out-of-town attendees, which comprised 15% of One Spark attendance.

[mtraininjax]

I agree that the street festival should remain free. I expect they'll fall into a good grove, it's already one of the biggest events we've got after only 2 years.

As it grows, it will have to pay for the police and fire presence downtown. I can see VIP offerings, and a commercial public/private partnership with more sponsorships sold.  Jazz fest used to be a nice offering in Met park, but now we have VIP to help defray the costs of shutting down streets, adding more security, calling it "Mayor Alvin Brown presents".....

It will become more commercialized as it grows, everything always ends up that way. Nothing you will be able to do to stop it.

[fieldafm]

As it grows, it will have to pay for the police and fire presence downtown

The special event permit holder pays for the police/fire presence themselves. JSO and JFRD will actually tell you how much staff/hours you'll pay for when you apply for your permit (whether you agree with that number or not).

[simms3]

SXSW has obviously managed this carefully.

That's key.  SXSW is almost 3 separate events in one time "area" spanning 2+ weeks.  Most of the tech conferences aren't simultaneous to the music festival component, and it's really 3 separate crowds almost that go.  The "OneSpark" segment is mostly not concurrent to the music festival, even though there is a little bit of overlap.  The film festival runs the whole time because in addition to the people that are there exclusively for the film component, the films being shown need an audience to test and they get one with both the music festival crowd and the tech/interactive crowd.


I think depending on the music/festival, your average festival attendee is not going to be remotely similar to your average OneSpark/Techie/Interactive convention goer, even if there is *some* overlap.  A large variety of more mainstream/headlining acts won't draw a specific antagonistic crowd, but could overshadow OneSpark quite easily.


I definitely don't think OneSpark is even close to Jacksonville's signature event.  Lots of cities have something at least kind of similar in theory at this point, and only a few cities have anything remotely sizable or noteworthy (Austin, SF, etc).  Jax needs to let OneSpark age and grow into itself before it can even consider it a top 5 event.

The TPC is probably the biggest event in the region in my mind.  It's the only event that is truly national.  I live in tech/VC hub of the universe and never once heard OneSpark mentioned here (and I know *a ton* of people who would have an interest in going if it were worth their time), but I watched the TPC with folks this weekend and saw my hometown/region highlighted very nicely.

Golfers come in from around the world as do their fans.  It's really the only thing that gives the area massive exposure.  Football games not so much unless you aggregate Jags games into one "event", and then it would probably be #1.  The FL-GA game is totally regional.  People outside of NE FL, UF, and UGA have barely ever even heard of it, if at all, nor do they shred an ounce of care.  The Gator Bowl is one of countless bowl games that only college football fans watch, and it depends on who's playing in the bowl for how much exposure there is to the area and outside of region presence.

The Jacksonville Jazz Festival - I understand at one point it was a real big event.  I have the 2010 Jazz Fest theme painting framed in my apartment, actually.  I don't think it's one of the great Jazz Fests around the country, and certainly not enough for a national draw.  I wish that weren't the case and it were right up there with NOLA.

[mtraininjax]

I definitely don't think OneSpark is even close to Jacksonville's signature event.  Lots of cities have something at least kind of similar in theory at this point, and only a few cities have anything remotely sizable or noteworthy (Austin, SF, etc). 

Jax needs to let OneSpark age and grow into itself before it can even consider it a top 5 event.

+1

The Jazz Festival, when held at Met Park was a huge event, along the river, it was a signature event. Now Alvin has moved it to where it is really just part of the concrete in one of John Peyton's Pocket Parks. How exactly does having a concrete concert help solidify our city with a major river as a destination? Lots of cities have a downtown, let the Hemming Plaza Sweet Pete's fix Hemming Plaza. Move the festival back to the river. You could have multiple stages between the Shipyards and the old practice fields of the Jags. Move it back to the river, Mr. Mayor and give its name back to the Citizens of Jacksonville!

[JaxAvondale]

The TPC is moving back to March.

http://jacksonville.com/sports/golf/2017-08-07/players-championship-making-move-back-march

[FlaBoy]

Florida-Georgia weekend and the TPC are by far the biggest events in Jacksonville where people from outside the city want to come in to attend. Good move by the PGA and it should be fine for Jax.