People walked toward the Bud Zone, but they stumbled away.
The crowd inside the new sports bar at Alltel Stadium’s South end continued to swell throughout the first half and reached its peak just after halftime.
Bartenders said the crowd began streaming toward the new escalators leading toward the South gates halfway through the third quarter when the bar stopped selling liquor.
The bar was supposed to stop selling liquor at halftime — a team directive to keep people from having too good a time before the night drive home — but the good times kept rolling well into the third quarter.
For the regular season, the bar will serve until the fourth quarter except for night games, when halftime will mark the cutoff.
The cooks at the two sandwich stands at either end of the bar said the brisket sandwiches were the biggest seller. Each stand sold about 800 of them at $9 apiece.
Jacksonville Sheriff’s Officer J.C. Hux said people stayed relatively well behaved. Officers broke up one fight in the South stands below the bar. Hux said the six officers assigned to the bar were instructed to let the crowd have fun.
“We were told to let the people get rowdy so long as they’re not fighting,” said Hux.
• Miami coach Dave Wannstedt doesn’t want to hear about Jag quarterback Byron Leftwich winning the game. “It was ridiculous for our second- and third-teamers to commit so many penalties to keep their drive going. You sure as heck can’t play on this team if you do those kind of things.”
• Fans in the Family Zone found themselves displaced. The old seating area (no smoking, no drinking) was on the middle level in the Southwest corner, but that now abuts the Bud Zone. So, the family area was moved up to the top deck, considerably more distant from the field.
• The game program continued the Jags’ love of Coach Jack Del Rio’s picture. He was in the book seven times, plus one ad. Owner Wayne Weaver was there three times. The cover went to safety Marlon McCree but there’s a reason; you’ll see Del Rio there on Sept. 14 for the first regular season game here.
• Despite pregame pleas from the police to arrive early, there still were big traffic jams and parking problems that had the bridges jammed after the game started.
• You’ll see changes inside the stadium. The new end zone has a big “Bud Zone” sign outside the new bar and the walls have new padding. A big field access opening has been cut in the southwest corner of the field and is used by, among others, participants in the pregame and halftime shows. They used to enter through a small gate at the 20-yard-line on the east side. The big new entrance reportedly displaced several hundred seats, thus lowering the number needed to avoid a television blackout. The 700 new end zone club seats don’t count against the blackout number.
• Front row in the City Council box: Jerry Holland and Mike Corrigan. And two Miami-area politicians made the game. Rep. Rene Garcia was the guest of Jacksonville Rep. Dick Kravitz, and Rep. Rafael Arza was with the Dolphins.
• Concession prices were the same as last year at all stands and a few new faces popped up. The Austin Blues barbecue has a stand in the North end zone and Sneakers and Outback have added stands. But the most popular place might have been the steamed corn concession stand outside the South end zone. $3 an ear.
• The television stations are getting better parking for their trucks this year. They’re on the old practice fields, rather than being jammed up against the stadium.
— by Bradley Parsons and Fred Seely