by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Last spring, the Tourist Development Council helped fund the first-ever Players Championship Downtown Experience to the tune of $300,000. The one-day event held primarily at the Landing was designed to tie the tournament, which is played in Ponte Vedra, to Downtown — an area generally ignored over the years by fans of the tournament.
The Players Downtown Experience featured interactive golf games, live music, transportation to and from the tournament from both sides of the river and drink specials. By all accounts, the inaugural event was a success from both the perspective of tournament officials and Downtown hotels and business owners. Thursday, representatives from The Players were back in front of the TDC, but this time they were seeking only $100,000.
“We’re not here just asking for money,” said Players Championship Executive Director Ron Cross, who will oversee his first Players this coming May. “We are really here to support Visit Jacksonville, John Reyes (Visit Jacksonville’s president and CEO) and his efforts. We are working with all the parties and we are working with the City to make this event have a bigger impact.”
Cross has said his goal is to increase daily attendance at The Players by 10,000. Those fans, he says, will be looking for something to do after tournament play Thursday-Saturday. He expects a percentage will stay at the beach to eat and revel.
However, a certain percentage will also be looking for other areas of town to spend their money. The Players Downtown Experience is designed to establish Downtown as a viable and enjoyable alternative.
“This is all part of the big picture,” said Cross, adding he expects the Downtown hotels will feel a major impact during the next Players Championship. “We were very pleased with the first year and this will be part of a long term plan.”
According to a marketing plan submitted to the TDC by the marketing team from The Players, a majority of the $100,000 will go towards promoting the tournament outside of Jacksonville, primarily in Atlanta. The plan is to purchase two Sunday inserts in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a paper with a circulation of nearly 600,000 that reaches 1.14 million readers. Those inserts would run between mid-March and April, the time during which the PGA Tour’s season sees its first major tournament of the year — The Masters in Augusta, Ga.
The marketing plan also includes buying 71 spots on the Golf Channel, the Orlando-based network that reaches an estimated 2.15 million households across the nation.
Overall, with the addition of the databases of Visit Jacksonville and Florida’s First Coast of Golf, Cross is hoping to reach 3 million potential ticket buyers.
The TDC also approved a $25,000 grant to help promote the Jan. 26 rugby match between the South Sydney Rabbitohs of Australia and the Leeds Rhinos of England at the University of North Florida. Daryl Howland is the owner and general manager of the Jacksonville Axemen, the local rugby club that will serve as the host club for the Rhinos and the Rabbitohs. Howland said through very little promotional work — primarily that of Rabbitohs owner Russell Crowe making appearances on Monday Night Football and “The Jay Leno Show” — ticket sales for the match are going well.
“Without any major public relations, we have sold over 2,100 of the 9,300 available tickets,” said Howland, adding that 631 have been sold outside Florida, 576 in 38 other states and 69 in seven other countries.
Howland said he expects both a big international crowd as well as an international media presence.
“I am confident both the United Kingdom and Australian press will come over for the event in person,” he said, adding there will be a press conference the day of the match at the Landing.
Howland said Jacksonville is rapidly becoming the home for rugby in the United States. He said an Australian police team has talked about coming to Jacksonville to train.
“If the match is successful, I believe Jacksonville could become the site for future (international matches). Jacksonville has the infrastructure and the history,” said Howland. He also said he has partnered with the Jaguars. Through that partnership, the Jan. 26 match is being marketed through the Jaguars’ marketing list. “This is a way to put their brand into the international countries.”
Howland was asked what Jacksonville was getting into with the Rhinos and Rabbitohs. He explained that Crowe grew up an avid Rabbitohs fans and bought the team in an effort to restore it to its glory years.
“Basically, he makes movies to fund the Rabbitohs and his band,” said Howland. “Leeds just won the equivalent of the Super Bowl. It’s one of the most high-profile rugby clubs in the world. There was a large spike in ticket sales after they won the championship.”