by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
A late-arriving crowd of walk-up ticket buyers for Saturday night’s monster truck rally overwhelmed the Sports Complex parking, according to event managers. The resulting delays have led to discussions about how to accommodate the larger crowds brought downtown by new events and new venues.
Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Chief Bill David said a crowd of 58,000 took everybody by surprise. Pointing to the absence of available mass transit and understaffed public and private parking lots, David said organizers didn’t realize the drawing power of 15-foot-high trucks running repeatedly over cars.
“Honestly, some people underestimated the amount of parking that would be necessary,” said David.
After selling 30,000 tickets before the day of the event, the complex’s general manager said Alltel Stadium was set up to handle about a crowd of about 55,000, just 3,000 less than the final crowd. However, nearly half the crowd arrived within an hour of starting time, clogging roads and ticket windows.
“What happened was they had 20,000 people show up at the same moment,” said David. “When that happens you’re going to have delays.”
The monster truck show has become the most popular one-day event at Alltel, excepting football games, said Downey. Crowds for the spectacle have grown from thousands to Saturday’s crowd of almost 60,000. Downey said ecstatic promoters were planning for a full house next year. Downey estimated about 15,000 cars crowded downtown’s east end. The Sports Complex provides about 6,500 public spaces.
Larger crowds have been heading to the Sports Complex drawn by recently-built venues like the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville and the Veterans Memorial Arena. The day of the truck event, several hundred cars parked around the arena for an afternoon Barracudas hockey game.
While City planners are excited that the publicly-financed venues appear to be working as planned, bringing crowds downtown for something other than a Jaguars game, they are still learning how to accommodate the larger numbers.
“We anticipate the new complex will be a much bigger draw, and we’re still knocking around some ideas to bring in the biggest possible crowds while still making the experience a positive one,” said mayor’s office spokesperson Heather Murphy.
“It’s obviously what we’ve been hoping for: an area that offers different kinds of entertainment and draws a variety of people downtown. But, because of the new venues, we’re still in some new territory. Each time we have a big event, we get a better sense of what kind of crowds we’re going to attract and how to take care of them.”
Future improvements could include the public shuttles that service 15,000 Jaguars fans every home game, according to Murphy and Downey.
The City Council approved last week a development package for a local partnership to build two private parking garages in the complex. Those garages would add about 1,500 spaces.