by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
There’s a lot more to watching the Jaguars on television than what you see on Sunday afternoons and Monday nights, and Jaguars Television Manager Jeff Imperial knows all about it.
There are weekly coach’s shows, live pregame shows, post-game shows, season previews, wrap-ups, several specials and many hours of team-related programming produced each season and throughout the year.
Imperial has been shooting video and editing it into what you see in your living room since before the team had a coach or players.
After graduating from the University of Florida, Imperial spent almost 10 years at First Coast News as the special projects director before joining the Jaguars’ in-house production department.
Imperial said in the franchise’s early days, it was sometimes a struggle to create a wide variety of programming, “but it was very exciting. Those were the days.”
Unlike many other National Football League teams, the Jaguars create programs totally in-house rather than using studio space and post-production facilities at a television station. Just down the hall from Imperial’s office, editing bays, control room and videotape archive is the studio where “The Jack Del Rio Show” is taped after each game.
“Having the space we need and all the latest state-of-the-art non-linear digital editing equipment right here at the stadium is very convenient,” said Imperial. “It also gives us complete creative control and it’s very cost-effective for the team.”
With only three people in the video department, Imperial said it’s not unusual to start the day at 9 a.m. and not head home until well after 9 p.m. But in the 20 years since he got his first job in television, he has come to realize he was meant for the job: Imperial said he enjoys showing the off-the-field side of the NFL and its players and coaches.
“We do what we can to generate excitement and give the fans of this team an inside perspective that no one else can provide,” said Imperial. “A lot of fans wouldn’t recognize the players without the numbers on their chests and their helmets on. We get a chance to show that these guys are people, too.”