by David Chapman
Staff Writer
With college football in the air, the pressure is on for the Gator Bowl Association Committee.
Tickets still remain for the upcoming Florida State-Colorado showdown Sept. 27 and the Gator Bowl on New Year’s Day. If sellouts are to be had, it’s going to take effort - but that doesn’t mean the GBA Committee isn’t going to enjoy the effort.
Over 150 members attended the opening committee meeting at the Stadium on Thursday to officially kick off its season in style with the unveiling of the Gator Bowl’s poster for the upcoming game, while also hearing opening remarks from 2008 GBA Chair Brian Goin.
“My commitment to you is make sure we have fun,” said Goin. “But we also have to put our best foot forward to make sure tickets are sold.”
With the NCAA allowing schools to schedule a 12th regular season football game, neutral host cities - like Jacksonville - will be in line to host such economically advantageous games, said Goin. But not without first creating a good impression on schools.
Besides their internal efforts to sell tickets, GBA officials said they’ll be scoreboard watching over the season and looking for favorable results in many of the potentially attractive Gator Bowl options like Florida State, Notre Dame, Texas, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Clemson. Being in the position to select a school with a well-traveling or local interest fanbase would help their ticket selling efforts and increase regional economic impact, said GBA President Rick Catlett.
Catlett also spoke highly of what Goin, an official with the PGA Tour, has brought to the table.
“He gets it,” said Catlett. “He’s brought so many new ideas to the table that I don’t think we’d have ever thought of.”
In the spirit of the political season, Goin said some things on his Chair “platform” include getting past GBA chairmen more involved, creating a tiered structure for the Committee to let members advance and boosting new membership through the “redshirts” program.
“There have been many past chairs who still have great ideas,” said Goin. “With the tiered system, many times members didn’t know how they could become executive committee members and became disinterested. Now, they’ll be able to see how to work their way up.
“With the redshirts, in the past we’d have 30 new members each year but would have 30 members leave meaning nothing changed... now we get new members through programs like Leadership Jacksonville and show why the Association is important to Jacksonville.”
Goin stressed the important role members and volunteers play in making the games and organization run smoothly, but also noted the need for assistance from locals to purchase tickets.
“The biggest challenge, I feel, is the economy,” said Goin. “We’re going to bring a high profile and great game together but we need Jacksonville to also step up to the plate.”
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