Want to sit high and dry?
Jacksonville’s three major arenas are all selling luxury boxes two as they get ready for the upcoming sports seasons, the other in anticipation of the city’s newest venue.
Here’s what you can buy:
Arena
There will be 28 executive suites at the new $130 million arena. Even though there presently is exactly one scheduled event for the new arena — the first and second rounds of the 2006 NCAA men’s basketball tournament — selling the 12-seat suites isn’t like selling someone a house sight unseen.
“We know the track at the Coliseum the past year,” said Shawn Hegan, sales manager for SMC, which will operate the building when it opens next year. “We know the types of events we’ll be having — I can’t go into any of them specifically — but with the new arena, Jacksonville will become a prime destination.”
With 14,000 permanent seats and room for up to 2,000 more, the new arena will be big enough to host music’s biggest acts and yet maintain a sense of intimacy that can get lost in a 22,000-seat venue.
“Studies done on arenas our size indicate that acts like U2 and Dave Mathews find a facility this size very accommodating,” said Hegan.
Hegan is selling the suites based on two different lease agreements. If you sign a five-year lease, the suite goes for $50,000 a year; three years and you’ll pay $55,000 a year. The suites also include 12 tickets to every event held in the arena. Of the 28 suites, four are “super suites” which hold 24 people and can be leased event by event.
Baseball park
The Jacksonville Suns have luxury boxes in their new $34 million ball park. Suns owner and general manager Peter Bragan Jr. has 12 boxes at his disposal. With opening day just over a month away, Bragan and his sales staff are beating the streets to sell suites and season tickets.
“It’s going pretty good,” said Bragan. “I think we’ve sold four of them. We have 12 and the City wants to retain two for their use. And, I’m going to keep one or two to rent by the night.”
Compared to the arena and the Jaguars, a Suns’ luxury suite is a bargain. For $20,000, you get the box, 12 exterior seats and 20 tickets to 70 Suns home games.
“That’s under $300 a night for 20 people,” touted Bragan, adding he prefers to lease the boxes on three or five-year terms, but is willing to ink one-year agreements.
Bragan said he’s sold a couple of suites to longtime sponsors and a couple to new businesses attracted by the new park.
“If you can get them up there and sit and look at the ball park, it sells itself,” said Bragan. “It’s a great angle and you’re up real high. But, you’re still close enough to hear the coaches and players.”
Alltel Stadium
Glen Fisher’s in the luxury box business, too, and his product has the best name recognition on the planet — NFL football. He also may have the toughest job of all. He’s got the Jags as his selling point, but he also has 90 very expensive suites. While most are spoken for, Fisher said there are still several available and the economy, not the team’s record the past few years, is causing a little trepidation among the local business community.
“We still have about eight or nine and we like to keep two or three open for individual games,” said Fisher, the former television anchorman who joined the team in November of 1994 when most of the suites had already been sold, even before the team started play in 1995. “The suites do not have that much to do with winning and losing on the field. It’s a chance to spend four quality hours with customers.”
The 90 luxury boxes, which are on the stadium’s sides about halfway up, run from $75,000 to $130,000. You get 20 tickets to each game, parking passes and four guest passes, meaning you can give four other ticket holders a pass to your suite any time during the game. Owning a suite also entitles you to attend any other event in Alltel. For comparison, luxury suites in Dallas and Washington, D.C. for Cowboys and Redskins games, respectively, go for $300,000 a year.
Despite the slow economy, Fisher said there’s a solid customer base. The trick is finding them.
“Some companies are positioned to where they are not affected by the economy,” he said. “We sold six suites last year and that was a very, very difficult year. It’s only difficult because of the price. We get out, do our homework, understand the market and go after them.”