From staff
The city might be wise to listen closely to two things that National Football League Commissioner Paul Tagliabue stated in his annual speech to the media on Friday: the possibility of playing a regular-season game overseas and the approaching reality of a franchise in the Los Angeles area.
The league now plays exhibition games elsewhere but a regular season game would mean that one city would lose a game. Tagliabue declined to expand on the remark, but someone will end up with seven home games instead of eight. It wouldn’t hurt the owner, as the team would make the same money, but it could be used as a punishment, of sorts, for a team whose fans aren’t filling the stadium.
Putting a team in the LA area has been held up for years with squabbling over financing a new stadium or spending a lot to refurbish a present building and Tagliabue said “Los Angeles is becoming a reality with a stadium deal coming this year.” For LA to get a team, the league would either have to expand or move a present franchise ... and a city with a lot of empty seats would be a prime candidate.
The Host Committee staff will start breaking up this month and one unresolved issue is the fate of the three staffers who were transferred from the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission.
“We haven’t really addressed that,” said Steve Diebenow, the mayor’s chief of staff.
Host Committee co-chairman Tom Petway indicated he thought that it had been resolved and seemed taken back that nothing had been done.
“I assure you that these people will be taken care of,” he said.
Until then, the job status of Shelly Marino, Heather Surface and Kandi Begue remains unclear.
One major glitch at the stadium Sunday night: the women’s rest rooms on the second level backed up and the men’s rooms had to become unisex for a while.
Stadium prices were in line with the Jaguar games ($6 beer, for instance) but you could splurge — an “official stadium” golf shirt was $100.
The stadium signage remained the same as the Jaguars’ games except the back of the scoreboards. Winn-Dixie’s signage was replaced by the NFL and team logos.
Fox Network had an odd delay in the pregame show. The interviews with former presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton were delayed about 30 seconds, so the scoreboard screens were showing the talk while fans watched them leaving the booth, which was in the Southeast corner.
The Chamber brought in 20 major prospects - either business owners or site selectors - for a weekend of parties and tours. The most impressive may have been a cruise on the river ending at Epping Forest, where the visitors were greeted by Gov. Jeb Bush.
Former JEDC head Mike Weinstein stayed on the Host Committee even after he lost the mayor’s election to John Peyton and was among those singled out by Tagliabue in his remarks. Others were Petway, co-chair Peter Rummell, Peyton and Jaguars’ owner Wayne Weaver.
Lots of people feasted on the bonanza of the visitors and one was the owner of a lot on Liberty Street, who rented his 60 places for $200 each for the weekend. He didn’t make out as well as the tow truck operator he hired - that guy kept his fleet busy hauling trespassers’ cars back to the lot, where they could get the car back for $250.
Also doing well: the Historical Society got $100,000 for St. Andrew’s Church and the Merrill House from ESPN The Magazine, and The Garden Club got $85,000 from Maxim magazine.
During the press conference after the Pro Football Hall of fame announcement, inductee-to-be Dan Marino was asked about the irony of being elected in the same city where he played his final game. “That game!” he muttered. “It was like we didn’t even play. It never occurred to me until you mentioned it and I wish you hadn’t.” It was the 1999 playoff game where the Jaguars beat Marino and his Dolphins 62-7.
11 E. Forsyth finally found a tenant for its ground-floor retail space. No, it’s not the Atlanta Bread Company, which still is rumored to be looking at the space. Building management gave one of its residents the 4,000 square-foot space to use as an art gallery through the weekend. Art enthusiast Sara Taylor, who has lived in the building since August, was given the space free of charge. She got 14 local artists together and put together an impromptu gallery.
Winn-Dixie opened a temporary grocery on Talleyrand to accommodate the crowds staying on cruise ships in the area. The ships had to close their on-board shops when they pulled in port. It was no mini-mart, either. The store was 30,000 square feet, all under a tent.
City attorney Peggy Sidman attended the Snoop Dogg concert at the Florida Theatre and had an interesting thing to say about it. “When I was walking to my seat, all I could I think was that I was overdressed,” Sidman said. “I don’t mean that my clothes were too nice, just that I was wearing more clothing than everyone else.”
One of the best lines was during a midweek conversation between National Football League Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and a Philadelphia fan in the Adam’s Mark lobby. The commissioner apologized for the rain and the fan answered “Who cares? You don’t have to shovel rain.”
How close was the game? It was the first Super Bowl (of 39) when the teams were tied going into the final quarter.
No question who had the most fans. Philadelphia’s edge was about 4 to 1.
The Sirius radio network gave each fan a small FM radio and transmitted the live radio broadcasts from each team’s network, the NFL’s network and several in foreign languages. The radios worked well and it was a good thing for avid fans; the public address announcer frequently failed to call the plays.
The NFL made sure the big media contingent knew where it was going. Starting at the media entrance in the South end zone, colored tape was placed on the walkways — the media credentials were color coded to the tape, which led to the proper areas.
Local fans are used to the raucous times downtown after a Jaguar or college game at the stadium. Not so on Sunday night — the fans filed out quietly and the few remaining vendors along Bay Street were cutting prices in hopes of luring customers.