by David Chapman
Staff Writer
Finely tuned athletes wearing protective gear will be flying around the field at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium next April – but they won’t be football players.
Instead, it’ll be supercross racers speeding around a track and making jumps as high as a three-story building during competition for the first time in Jacksonville April 4 as part of Monster Energy Supercross.
“We’re very excited to be involved,” said SMG General Manager Bob Downey. “If we can launch this event and have near the success of the monster truck series, we’ll be happy.”
Both the Monster Supercross and Monster Jam annual monster truck show have more than just prior success in common: both are operated and presented by FELD Entertainment Motor Sports (formerly Live Nation Motor Sports), a division of FELD Entertainment.
If the Jacksonville locale can mirror the success of other cities and the annual monster truck show, it could mean a local economic impact of around $10 million, said Monster Supercross Public Relations Manager Denny Hartwig.
“The event definitely brings in fans,” said Hartwig. “Over the years the Southeast has become the home of supercross.”
The latest event in the Southeast for the organization was held in Atlanta earlier this year and brought over 70,000 people – something Hartwig believes Jacksonville can replicate based on numbers from the other automotive extravaganza.
“One of the biggest attractions to Jacksonville was the success of the Monster Jam series,” said Hartwig. “Year after year it brings a lot of people .... there’s a lot of history, and we hope the Supercross events can do the same.”
Fans aren’t the only ones who might add to local business – Hartwig said that between Supercross staff and the various race teams, nearly 500 Supercross-affiliated people should frequent area hotels and businesses.
Jacksonville is one of the 16 stops for the FELD sponsored shows, with the next closest cities being Atlanta and New Orleans. An independent event is scheduled for Daytona in March, but with the Monster Supercross event being the only one in Florida and one of the few in the Southeast, Hartwig believes fans from around the region will come see the action.
It’s the potential for an economic boost from the region that tourism officials like to see.
“Obviously an event like this should have a great economic impact for the area,” said Lyndsay Rossman, director of corporate communications for Visit Jacksonville. “More so than that, it should give great exposure to Jacksonville.”
Businesses in Jacksonville can gain a little exposure, too.
Though the event is several months away, Hartwig said he expects to see local businesses start to approach the organization for sponsorship opportunities as the event creeps closer.
“It’s definitely a way for local businesses to market themselves,” he said. “We have national sponsors, but we’re always looking at the local level.”
One Jacksonville Economic Development Commission official hoped to see the event as a mainstay for the City.
“It (Supercross) does a lot for Jacksonville,” said Mike Bouda, director of the JEDC sports board. “It’s an excellent event and hopefully it will be back for many years to come.”
For more information on the event, go to www.supercrossonline.com.
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