Orlando "guarantees" NFL game

[spuwho]

Clearly this writer is very much unfamiliar with college football in the south. The last sentence deserves the full bonehead award.

Per Fox Sports.com:

  http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/citrus-bowl-nfl-games-dallas-cowboys-new-york-jets-tampa-bay-buccaneers-041216


Orlando is laying the groundwork to host NFL games by 2017
NFL games could be coming to Orlando, Florida. In fact, one Florida sports executive "guarantees" it.

Steve Hogan, the CEO of Florida Citrus Sports, told the Orlando Sentinel Tuesday that he's confident the city will host NFL games in the very near future.

"I promise you, I guarantee you, we will have NFL football in this stadium in 2017 -- one way or another," Hogan told the Sentinel. "I'm not just talking about preseason games. Regular-season games are also in play."

The topic was discussed after nearly 50,000 fans flocked to the Citrus Bowl last weekend to watch Florida State's spring game. With so many people interested in watching a college intrasquad scrimmage, you would think the enthusiasm over an NFL game would be through the roof.

The Citrus Bowl has hosted numerous marquee sporting events, including the Olympics, FIFA World Cup and WrestleMania, in addition to major college football games, MLS matches and state high school tournaments. However, it doesn't have an NFL team to call its own.

The historic site was a regular venue for NFL preseason games back in the 1990s, hosting teams like the New York Jets, Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins, Houston Oilers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, among others. But as the stadium grew older and its amenities became outdated, most teams had built new state-of-the-art facilities and were no longer interested in traveling to Orlando to play in the vintage venue.

But now, after the stadium recently underwent a dramatic renovation, there might be more appeal for NFL teams to play there. The Citrus Bowl got a $210 million face lift less than two years ago, including new video screens, a 10,000 square-foot party deck, an additional 6,000 club seats and an increased capacity of more than 65,000.

So if Florida State can attract more than 50,000 fans for a glorified practice, the NFL could almost certainly do better -- even for a meaningless preseason game.

[Kerry]

With any luck the Jags will move there full-time.  Then JAX could get an NBA team.  Also, it isn't just Orlando trying to land regular season games.  We already know first hand about London and Dallas will soon be playing games in Mexico City, but San Antonio is trying land the Raiders, and they might just get them considering the Raiders recently bought land for a stadium there.

Now as for the final comment, I agree that college attendance has almost nothing to do with pro attendance.

[Tacachale]

Clearly he's reaching. A regular season NFL game in a city with no expansion potential and little else to offer? I could have seen the Jags doing that a few years ago, but not with the London game. Maybe some team will do a preseason game there.

[coredumped]

With any luck the Jags will move there full-time.  Then JAX could get an NBA team.

What? Why? We already have:
1) A football team this city supports with high attendance
2) A basketball team that gets very little attendance

Also, the NBA gets the lowest attendance in America, behind MLB, soccer and NHL!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_professional_sports_leagues_in_the_United_States_and_Canada#Attendance

[Kerry]

Well, I don't want to derail this thread into a Jags discussion and seeing by your avatar you are a Jags fan so not sure a discussion on the topic would even get us anywhere so I'll just say that the Jags take an enormous amount of money out of the City that I think could be put to better use and benefit more people.

On edit - from your attendance figures.
NFL - 8 home games X 67,604 = 540,832
NBA - 41 home games  X 17,826 = 730,866

[Tacachale]

Well, I don't want to derail this thread into a Jags discussion and seeing by your avatar you are a Jags fan so not sure a discussion on the topic would even get us anywhere so I'll just say that the Jags take an enormous amount of money out of the City that I think could be put to better use and benefit more people.

LOL, like an NBA team?

[Kerry]

I am not saying the NBA is free, but it doesn't cost near as much to support an NBA team as it does an NFL team - which is why the NBA is so successful in small-market cities.

Anyhow - enough side discussion for me.  I'll give someone else the final word on the Jags vs. NBA topic.

[Tacachale]

I am not saying the NBA is free, but it doesn't cost near as much to support an NBA team as it does an NFL team - which is why the NBA is so successful in small-market cities.

Respectfully, that's not really the case. As far as the cities' expenses, NBA facilities are usually (but not always) cheaper than NFL stadiums, but they don't generate any more economic impact, either. As far as individuals' expenses, the total personal income needed to sustain an NBA team ($45 billion) is comparable to the NFL ($48 billion). As far as tickets, NBA actually needs higher total attendance than the NFL, meaning they rely even more heavily on corporate sponsorship, which isn't good for smaller markets. There's also the fact that the NBA is a less prominent league, the teams aren't as valuable, and probably more importantly for Jax, there's little basketball culture here compared to football.

[RattlerGator]

Honestly, what the hell? The NBA ? ? ?  That has to be some kind of bait to provoke a response. Mission accomplished. And the Jags are draining City Hall ? ? ? Good grief.

[RattlerGator]

That said, and back on topic, Orlando *is* the vacation capital of this country. They might be able to pull this off.

[dp8541]

As a season ticket holder, I would love for the Jaguars to play one of their home pre-season games in Orlando each year.  Win win for me - I do not have to pay for a pre-season game I normally would not attend anyway with my season tickets, and we can attempt to expand the Jaguars front print into the Orlando metro area

[pierre]

The Jaguars are not losing another home game, preseason or otherwise.

Maybe if the Bucs, Dolphins or another team wants to lose a home game the Jaguars would play as the visitor.

[KenFSU]

There's a lot of moving parts, but I'm still in love with the idea of swapping a Jaguars pre-season game for a handful of Orlando Magic regular season games. Who doesn't win? Orlando is a huge, largely untapped secondary market for the Jags, and Jacksonville is a huge, largely untapped secondary market for the Magic. As things stand, most Orlando NFL fans would probably rather watch the Bucs and Dolphins than the Jags. Ditto Jacksonville with the Heat. The drive between Everbank and Amway is barely two hours and change. How many more people could both cities get traveling to Jags/Magic games with a little bit more synergy.

The Jags would still have 8 of their 10 home games (plus playoffs) in Jacksonville, and Orlando would still have 38 home games in Orlando (plus playoffs).

Genuinely feels like a win-win.

Jacksonville isn't getting an NBA team, and Orlando is going to have a nearly impossible time getting an NFL team.

No reason we can't work together though to expose sister cities to each other's franchise.

[Elwood]

Or maybe Steve Hogan is just  trying to justify his CEO salary with his "I promise, I guarantee" bit.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Clearly this writer is very much unfamiliar with college football in the south.

Clearly because 'the writer' is a she...


[wait for it....]