by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
If Jacksonville is awarded the Atlantic Coast Conference football championship next year, the Gator Bowl Association wants to be sure there will be enough funds to successfully market and host the game.
Aside from a $300,000 State grant, the Florida Sports Foundation has already earmarked for the unnamed host city, Gator Bowl officials have appealed to the Duval County Tourist Development Commission for an additional $250,000.
In their grant application, they said the money would be used to pay for “game exposure,” including four hours of national air time.
Gator Bowl reps said an early December ACC championship game could provide a $12 million local economic impact and guarantee upwards of 30,000 hotel room nights.
Promised “heads in beds” typically do much by way of loosening TDC purse strings.
“The issue is not going to be how many hotel room nights will be used,” Gator Bowl reps explained to the TDC Finance Committee last week. “The issue will be, do we have enough hotel rooms?”
Under the proposed agreement, the Gator Bowl Association will underwrite the guarantee and pay all administrative, advertising and event expenses.
The City will pay for all stadium expenses.
The grant is contingent upon the ACC, who has yet to issue a formal Request for Proposals, accepting a local bid.
Jacksonville is competing with Tampa, Miami, Orlando and New Orleans for the game.