by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
If the Jaguars are going to avoid having a majority of their eight regular season home games blacked this year, they are going to have sell approximately 14,000 season tickets within the next month or so. And, if that happens, the Jaguars will have the Chamber of Commerce to thank.
While the Jaguars are mounting an advertising blitz that touts the most inexpensive ticket packages in team history — with easy payment plans to boot — the Chamber is doing its part by rallying local businesses in a ticket drive called “Get in the Game.” The ticket sales enterprise was created by the Chamber, and approved by the Jaguars, after local business leaders learned the team was going to fall significantly short of the approximate 64,000 season tickets that must be sold in order to avoid local TV blackouts.
Local First Union president Bob Helms is leading the two-part initiative, which gets underway Monday when he hosts dozens of local CEOs in an attempt to persuade the business community to purchase season tickets by the fistful.
“We are going to focus on the executive sector of the local population,” said Helms. “More specifically, we are going to call on about 300 CEOs from major local companies and seek their support in committing to a significant number of season tickets.”
Helms and First Union regional president Winston Wilkerson will host their first group of CEOs Monday in First Union’s board room. Over the next several days, there will be two daily sessions with 20-30 CEOs present.
To its credit, First Union is leading the ticket drive by committing to 500 tickets for this season. Helms said those tickets — which have been bought in different sections of Alltel Stadium — will be distributed to First Union employees and customers through a variety of methods.
“We will make the tickets available to our employees at a reduced price and we’ll take the loss,” explained Helms. “We will also give some to employees as an incentive for doing a good job. And, we’ll use some as customer entertainment or straight gifts.”
Zurich Insurance Services, which is owned by Jaguars minority owner Tom Petway, has also purchased 500 season tickets. Other than a smattering of other companies, Helms will have his work cut out for him. The Jaguars have seen season ticket sales drop every year for the last few years. The culmination of that drop came last season when the Thursday night home game against the Buffalo Bills was blacked out — a first in team history. Despite being televised nationally on ESPN, once its was time for kickoff, the screen went black within a 75-mile viewing radius of Alltel Stadium.
Helms said another aspect of “Get in the Game” is a direct appeal to the casual fan.
“We are doing more of a grass roots campaign that involves advertising and marshaling the area’s other Chambers,” he said. “The Jaguars have been very helpful. Our goal is to make sure every citizen in Jacksonville is aware of the relatively high number of tickets available. The reality is we don’t want to tarnish our wonderful relationship with the NFL, especially as a Super Bowl host city in 2005.”
The Chamber’s goal is to have at least 14,000 new season ticket holders by Aug. 15, the day before the Jaguars play their first home exhibition game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.