by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
“Mega” was the theme of Thursday’s meeting of the Tourist Development Council’s subcommittee on multiple city events. The subcommittee approved two recommendations for the full TDC. One involves the creation of signature, “mega events” such as possibly converting the annual weekend-long Sea & Sky Spectacular into a weeklong “Fleet Week” event that would encompass all of Jacksonville, including both Mayport and NAS Jacksonville.
Subcommittee chair Fred Pozin suggested targeting 2009 for the first Fleet Week event. While the idea sounded good to the rest of the subcommittee as well as Visit Jacksonville President John Reyes, there are major issues that would have to be overcome.
“It’s an easy fit for us. It’s there,” said Pozin, who is general manager of the Ramada Inn Conference Center in Mandarin. “The biggest obstacle is getting the buy-in from the military. From my experience, they are very territorial in nature. It’s at Mayport one year and at NAS the next.”
Pozin said his impression was the commanders of the two bases might resist a joint, multi-day venture. However, Pozin — as do other subcommittee members Hank Fonde and Jim Ewing as well as Reyes and Jacksonville Economic Development Commission Deputy Director Paul Crawford — thinks it would be worth it to get both commanders and the other major players at the table to discuss the feasibility of a Fleet Week event. Pozin has targeted a week in the fall, a time of year he calls “soft” for the local hotel industry.
“A similar event in Fort Lauderdale draws over 200,000 people,” said Fonde.
“There are models we can follow,” said Reyes, who came to Jacksonville from San Diego, another military town where an event similar to Fleet Week is very popular. “Something like this would also be a big local draw.”
Pozin sees Fleet Week becoming a regional event. While the original seed money will have to come from the TDC, Pozin said he expects the day will come when the event will finance itself.
“We just don’t do enough to thank the military community. This is a big thanks,” said Pozin. “We should try to find seed money, then walk away when it can stand on its own feet. I think that would be in three to five years.”
Reyes said if the TDC ultimately approves funding for such an event for 2009, his organization will have to start planning and promoting within the relatively near future.
“I recommend we begin exploring a mega weekend through Fleet Week and review other models to see if it’s financially feasible,” said Pozin.
The other “mega” topic is the idea of create a “mega calendar” for all Jacksonville events. According to Reyes, there are four entities that promote either Downtown events or city-wide events. While their calendars may be accurate and may overlap, Reyes says it would be best for locals and tourists alike if there was a single “clearing house” for those calendars — something that would serve as an all encompassing starting point for both the family from Iowa that’s coming to Jacksonville and the couple that lives at the beach and wants to spend a Friday evening in Riverside.
Those calendars are kept by Downtown Vision Inc., Visit Jacksonville, the Cultural Council and the City’s Office of Special Events. Reyes said the challenge comes when trying to figure out which calendars are accurate and which events are legitimate. He said Visit Jacksonville has 378 partners with events ranging from sports events to music to art shows.
Fonde said he likes the idea of a clearing house for events, but believes that calendar should be geographically broadened.
“I think we are too narrow,” he said. “I think we need to include the beaches and St. Johns County and Amelia Island. I think it should be more of a First Coast thing.”
Pozin said Visit Jacksonville’s site is the logical end-all site for all events.
“There should be a one-stop shop for people to figure out what’s going on any given week,” said Pozin. “Everybody can do their own thing, but there needs to be one place (for all events).”
Pozin recommended the TDC look into funding a staff person, possibly within Visit Jacksonville, or outside consultant who would manage the calendar site. Once the calendar becomes regional, Pozin said it would be fair to ask the surrounding counties to help fund the site.
Finally, the subcommittee began looking at ways to supplement Jaguars home games with other activities that would either attract people to Jacksonville for the entire weekend or at least keep them Downtown longer after the games end. With 10 home games (two preseason), there are 10 weekends in which, Pozin feels, most only think there’s a football game going on. Pozin said when talk of an NFL team coming to town got serious, one of the selling points was the boost home games would provide to the hospitality industry.
”We heard from the NFL that every weekend the hotels would be filled. Those in the lodging industry know that didn’t happen,” he said. “How can we reach out to the fans of the 10 teams that are coming to visit? The games are Sunday, so you have Friday and Saturday nights to fill rooms.”
Pozin said fans of Green Bay and Pittsburgh travel well, but the Jaguars don’t play either at home every year.
“We invest our bed tax money over there (at the stadium). It’s time to recover some of that,” said Pozin.
Crawford said the key to enhancing the home game weekend experience is to provide venues closer to the stadium and improve the Downtown travel experience. Right now, Crawford said, game day is a long day and many fans find it difficult — or don’t even want to go — to get to the Landing after the game. Reyes said there may be opportunities to create Friday and Saturday events that could all tie in to the Sunday football game.