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City Council says no to Jags' lease request.


mwfsu84

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Paul Hardin, the Jaguars attorney was quoted as saying, "If the city (government) wants us to leave, just say so."

I don't like reading quotes like that. Not just because I'm a season ticket holder. I love Northeast Florida, and I believe the Jaguars are a key component to the area's growth. If the average person in Witchita or Salt Lake City knows anything at all about Jacksonville, more than likely it's because of the Jags. Having a major league team makes the city more of a big time player than a beautiful skyline. Other cities Jacksonville's size realize that, which is why they spend a great deal of effort and money to attract those teams. Remember when Jacksonville was one of them? Mayor Peyton doesn't. Neither does the city council.

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You knw, I dont get it.

Im not a bg football person, but I understand the importance of keepng the Jags here. Why are we treating one our best assets like crap. I mean, if the people knew what the city was doing, they would flip out...

Sigh..

Looks like Jax is jsut going to be known as aNFL hostile city..

sad

Real sad..

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Quotes like that make me want to cry. I say give the Jaguars anything they want, especially if they are having a winning season. Is the city seriously going to spend that much on the stadium and then reduce its use to 3-4 games a year. The BC-EWC game doesn't quite have a big enough draw in my opinion.

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I'm not a lawyer,but from what I've read about the contracts ,that the city Signed, they(CITY), don't really have a leg to stand on.The Jags contract,Fl.-Ga contract and ACC contract gives the ribbon board revenue to the respective contract signer and not the city.Whomever writes these contracts for the city needs to be fired and the city needs to shut the hey up & pay for the screw up.If I signed a contract without understanding it,I would have to pay the price.So should the city.IMO

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Everybody, take a deep breath and calm down. This is just a football team. It's not life and death. Now having said that, the Jags have brought the city attention, but guess what, the City does not need that Jags. The City is not going to fall off the face of the earth if the Jags are not there. People are not moving to Jacksonville b/c they heard of the Jags. They move there for other reasons. Sure the Jags introduced some, not all, but some people to Jax, but what the Jags did in terms of that has passed. The City can and will stand on it's own and continue to grow if the Jags leave. I don't think economic development, explosive pop growth and continued familiarity with the City is going to stop.

Think about it. How many times a year are the Jags on national television? How many places outside of ESPN and a local sportswrap(newspaper) mention the score for a Jags game? How many times outside of football season do the Jags get mentioned around the nation?

The fact of the matter is that now, people know about Jacksonville outside of the football circle. People who know about the City 7 out 10 times probably will not even mention anything about it having a football team. People whom I've meet from different parts of the country who know about Jacksonville mention nothing about the team. I think the TU did a article before the SB about how many people know of Jax and why do they know about Jax and Jags was not the top reason people knew where Jax was and what Jax was. As I said before, PEOPLE DO NOT MOVE TO JACKSONVILLE BECAUSE OF THE JAGS. That is the bottom line and the City has looked at their bottom line and said that they cannot afford it. Good for them. I like the Jags and they were a positive for the city and still are in some ways, but they are not the end all be all of the City and the Jag leadership is waking up to this fact and they apparently don't like it. If they want to move the team, they will do it.

It's clear as day that Weaver isn't commited to the City so why should the City be beholden to him? In the end, Weaver will do what is best for him, which maybe selling the team or moving it. That is his right. Lookit, plenty of cities have lost teams, LA, St Louis, C-Town (Cleveland), B-More(Baltimore), Charlotte and soon to be, New Orleans. Last I checked those cities were still here and thriving. Jax is in a better growth position than some of those cities I mentioned and businesses are continuing to invest in the metro area. In the long run, that is what is important and that will continue to keep the City on the radar. Establishing trade relations with other counties allows Jax to become popular outside of the US, the Jags don't. It's things such as that, which will and is helping the City become more popular. Not just here in the US but abroad as the word spreads.

I hope that the Jags stay, but I'm not going to get behind any sports franchise that wants to hold a city hostage. It's not in the best interest of the city being held hostage.

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afh: First, I am calm. Second, if you read the lease agreement between the Jags and the City, it clearly gives the Jags 100% of the advertising revenue for 365 days of the year from the ribbon boards in the stadium. No ifs, ands or buts. The problem is the idiots with the City also promised the same revenue to the ACC and to FL-GA. So, the City is at fault here, not the Jags. The City should fire the moron who drafted these agreements and then honor them by paying everyone for the revenue even if it means the City takes a hit for their mistake.

As for the rest of the deal between the City and the Jags, the disaster in NO does possibly lessen the chance of the Jags moving to L.A. (assuming the Saints move to L.A.), but we still should take care of the Jags. Whether or not you want to believe it, the Jags have been invaluable in raising the City's profile in a positive way. We wouldnt have had the Super Bowl without them either as only NFL cities get the SB. It is obvious that the loss of the Jags would cause immediate and incalculable injury to the psyche of the city. Now we are known as a can do city. If we lose the Jags, we will be a city that lost out. Sure people will still live and move here, but it will never be the same if they leave. Again, let's strike a deal with Weaver and keep the Jags. I think at least 50% of the motivation behind those who want to stiff Weaver is that he is rich and they are jealous. Well, Weaver is a good guy and a friend of the City too. Let's work something out and make everyone happy.

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There are a few cities in America that have lost NFL franchises permanently - Canton, Oh, Portsmouth (NH?), Providence RI, Decatur IL. Does Jacksonville want to join that elite club?

Name another Jacksonville-based company or organization that generates as much national recognition for the city as the Jacksonville Jaguars. Winn Dixie? Fidelty? CSX? Nope. The Gator Bowl? The Florida-Georgia Game? The ACC Championship Game? Nope again. Even though all of those examples are, to varying degrees, nationally known, not one of them is instantly associated with Jacksonville. The Jacksonville Jaguars are.

It's not a question of how many times the Jaguars have been on national television. What matters is how many television viewers nationwide see them, and in turn, the beautiful shots of Jacksonville. Monday Night Football consistently ranks in the Neilsen top ten among ALL television shows. Meanwhile, the Gator Bowl doesn't even win its time slot. The difference is millions of television viewers. Everyone seems to understand that, except the boy-genius mayor and the Bubbas on the city council.

The Jaguars are an ascending team, a young exciting team that will probably make the playoffs. They'll return to Monday Night Football next year. I just pray they're representing the city of Jacksonville, and all of Northeast Florida.

I'd like to echo a point Riverside Gator made. Losing the Jaguars would hurt the synergetic, can-do attitude that out of town investors/developers/corporations DO value in governments. But it's worse that. The city had a deal with the Jaguars and they reneged on it. It sets a bad precedent. Why should an out of town corporation trust them?

Major league franchises DO offer tangible economic benefits. Which is why cities - including this one - spend hundreds of millions to lure them or keep them.

It's just sad that this has to happen now, when the team is experiencing a rejuvenation on the field and at the gate.

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what a hell

Do you really think that city of LA really cares that much if they have a nfl team or not? I am from there and answer is no!! This team mean everything to this area. Why shouldn't we have a professional team here where other progressive towns have 2-3 teams in different sports. It is the same loser mentality that some people here can not let this town to become progressive and move on!! Shut up and give the man his ten million and lets move on. Mostly more progressive people that are moving here are from cities that have different professional sports teams in their cities so they are not naturally looking for it at first but it is part of big city life. So get over it and lets get behind this team and go to playoffs!!!

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Roshni: Good point re LA. I have always wondered whether they would actually build a stadium even if given a guarantee that they would have an NFL team move into it. And, the Rams and the Raiders werent exactly well supported in LA, hence the moves away from LA. So, except for the TV market's size, I wonder how great LA really is for an NFL team.

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LA is of the size that they don't need the NFL, rather the NFL needs them. It looks like the Saints may be headed to LA, so I guess the Jags will be here for a little while. I also suspect that eventually our city government will cave in to Weaver and honor the contract. After all, that's the pattern that's been set over the past couple of years.

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Direct and indirect revenue from the Jags is in the hundreds of millions per year. We've recently had an major business announcement that was a direct result of the Super Bowl. Over a billion people that probably had never heard the name uttered in their entire lives now know that Jacksonville exists. Fans pay hard earned money for this enhancement to the quality of life.

I could go on but my point is there is simply too much the Jaguars organization has brought to this community to be BS'd by the city council.

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You know, of all the times for our idiot of a mayor to be strong, why with the Jags. He could pick any other issue, and overall, you would probably have less hostility over it. Why now?

Honestly, my gut says that he wil cave, just like he has always done when challenged.

I agree with others on this page, in that this is about more than a football team. The Jaguars are a business - this is setting the world's worst precedent for dealing with a business. If I was a business owner, I'd be scared off from this. Think about it - If he is willing to do this with something that the citizens have an emotional tie to, what will be his judgement on something that the average citizen doesn't care about?

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