by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Shannon Smith arrives at every Jacksonville Jaguars home game three and half hours early.
No, she’s not tailgating or trying to find parking. Smith, the new Alltel Stadium game day personality, is reviewing her script and trying to figure out where she needs to be throughout the game with down-to-the-minute accuracy.
“People don’t realize it,” said Smith, 26, “but every second of each game is carefully scripted and executed. From the music, to what I say, to when I say it, somebody has taken a lot of time to plan it all out.”
For Jacksonville, Smith is the first of her kind. Following the model set by the Kansas City Chiefs, the former Roar cheerleader is the face and voice of Alltel Stadium who, along with interviewing fans, gives away prizes and smiles no matter what the scoreboard reads.
“I think it’s a lot of fun,” said Smith. “I usually went to all the games before. Now I just get a much better view.”
And lately she’s being recognized outside of the stadium.
“Yes, I do, especially in the last month or so,” said Smith. “When I go out now, I’ll see people look at me and I can tell they think they know me. It’s pretty funny.”
In case you’re wondering, even if the games weren’t blacked out you’d need a ticket to see Smith.
“Sorry,” she said, “I’m strictly the Jumbotron girl.”
Smith, a Jacksonville native who earned a bachelor’s degree in speech from Clemson University, said finding her new job was nothing short of an organic process. During the week, she spearheads fund raising efforts for the North Florida School of Special Education.
“When I was with the Roar, I had a really great time, but it was just so time consuming,” said Smith, who also holds the title of Ms. Jacksonville USA. “But even after I left, I kept a good rapport with the people I had been working with, and occasionally I would come back when they needed me to do different things.
“One day they called me in and told me what they had in mind for a new position. They said they were looking for a personality, somebody who could go out and interact with the fans during the games and be comfortable on camera. Ultimately, I want to have a career in sports broadcasting, so I said sure.”
And after several games, Smith said she’s considerably better at checking her nerves at the door.
“The first time I wouldn’t say
I was really nervous, per se,”
she said. “But I wasn’t prepared for the voice delay. I started
talking and I didn’t hear my voice until three seconds later. You start thinking, ‘Oh no, is the mic working?’ “
Now Smith says she’s completely comfortable, even when things don’t go exactly as planned.
“If I’ve learned one thing since
I started doing this,” she said,
“it’s that nothing ever goes exactly as planned. We try to give ourselves enough time to go out and
interview fans and ask them trivia questions, but we still have little issues with the cameras and things like that. We’re working on it, though.”
Will she be back next season?
“I really hope so,” she said. “I’m having a great time and think we’re getting a pretty good response, too. But when I think about how much my life has changed in only the past two years, I can’t even begin to predict where I’ll be. I’d love to come back, though.”