by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
The Tourist Development Council Wednesday approved just over $419,000 to help fund two of Jacksonville’s most significant sports events: the Florida-Georgia game and the New Year’s Day Gator Bowl game.
The two big ticket items were postponed from last Thursday’s TDC meeting when City Council President and TDC Chair Richard Clark could attend the regular TDC meeting just long enough to ask Council member Michael Corrigan to chair the rest of the meeting. The second round of budget hearings was going on at the same time and Clark wanted to attend.
The TDC approved $269,379 to fund the temporary bleachers brought in to Jacksonville Municipal Stadium for the Florida-Georgia game. The City, per contractual agreement, is required to assure the two schools the stadium will seat over 80,000 for the game. A local contractor was the low bidder for the job. The contract was put to bid by SMG, the company that manages the City’s sports and entertainment facilities.
According to Mike Bouda, sports and entertainment director for the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission, the bleachers will be paid for in three installments: 50 percent is due by Oct. 16 for the Oct. 31 game, 25 percent is due when the job is done and the final 25 percent is due after the bleachers have been taken down.
The TDC also approved $250,000 of the $300,000 requested by SMG to help offset costs associated with the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl. If SMG needs the full $300,000 (it’s contractually able to ask for $350,000), it will have to come before the TDC during its Nov. 19 meeting.
TDC member Fred Pozin said another reason the two big items were tabled until yesterday was the Council wanted to discuss the expenses to a greater extent.
“Our two questions were: has anyone really looked into these two expenses? And, we don’t want these to be reoccurring expenses. Are we setting the stage for them to be reoccurring expenses?” said Pozin, who asked if the cost of the bleachers could be offset by raising the ticket prices a few dollars.
“We have no control over the ticket prices. The schools have control,” said Bouda.
Clark believes the City should help pay for the bleachers now because the game does generate a local economic impact of between $25 million and $30 million. However, he sees problems 10 years down the road when the stadium becomes obsolete. The Jaguars, he says, won’t want an enormous stadium, however, the City will have to provide over 80,000 seats for the Florida-Georgia game. Clark is also convinced Jacksonville will need a new stadium in a decade.
“We are going to have to build a new one,” he said. “Go under the stadium when it rains and need an umbrella. Rain is leaking into some offices.”
In awarding $250,000 to SMG for the Gator Bowl game, the TDC generated more questions than answers. Unfortunately, SMG General Manager Bob Downey didn’t attend the meeting and Clark couldn’t reach him by phone. Members of the TDC, particularly Pozin and Clark, want to see detailed accounts of game expenses from the Florida State-Alabama game in 2007 and last year’s FSU-Colorado game and compare those expenses to Gator Bowl games. Gator Bowl Association President Rick Catlett said the City bills SMG directly for all game-day expenses and he never sees those invoices. Catlett said the GBA rents the stadium for the Gator Bowl for about $90,000.
Clark asked the rest of the TDC to develop questions for Downey for the Nov. 19 meeting.
“The crux is not whether we support the game. The crux is what numbers are real,” said Clark, before the TDC voted to approve the $250,000. “I still think we need the numbers and I still think Bob needs to be here in November.”
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