by Fred Seely
Editorial Director
The Jacksonville Jaguars may reduce the size of Alltel Stadium in order to avoid television blackouts, says majority owner Wayne Weaver.
Weaver said Wednesday that he will consider covering an undetermined number of seats for the 2005 season. If so, it would make the mandated National Football League blackout number smaller.
“We realize that we have a stadium that’s too large for this market,” said Weaver. “We’re looking at 70,000-plus for a market with a million and a half people. The new stadiums are in the 65,000 range and they’re in five million population markets.”
The Jaguars have had blackout problems in the past three years as the team’s fortunes have slipped. Four of the eight regular-season home games were not shown locally as ticket sales failed to reach the minimum.
The blackout level is around 60,000. Even though the stadium holds more, the high-end seats such as the Club and skyboxes don’t count, nor do handicap seating.
Using one of his favorite lines — it most prominently came out when he announced the firing of Coach Tom Coughlin two years ago — Weaver said, “It’s ridiculous to do the same thing over and over and expect a different outcome.”
The market, he said, is too small to support a big arena.
“Look at the numbers,” he said. “With the population we have, and the seats we have to sell, we have to reach one of every 16 families and get them to come to games. That isn’t reasonable in any market.
“Our marketing staff is doing a tremendous job. Ticket sales are going well. But we aren’t going to see 70,000 tickets sold.”
Weaver said he was excited about the stadium’s new look, which will include renovation of most of the high-priced areas.
“We have an excellent inventory of choices for the fans,” he said. “Everyone will be pleased with what they see in the stadium this year.”