By Fred Seely
Editor
Jaguar ticket sales have a lot in common with home sales, says a team executive, and the attitude is the same, too.
Tim Connolly, the team’s senior vice president, visited the Sales and Marketing Council last month and used comments that others said earlier in the meeting to prove his points.
Over 100 attended the meeting at the University Center at the University of North Florida.
“We’re way down in sales, just like you,” said Connolly, “but, just like you, we know it’s going to get better.
He brought up quotes from broker Selby Kaiser of the Legends of Real Estate and Lennar site agent Cal Williams, the SMC president.
“Selby reminded us before she gave the invocation that ‘We should think about the good things that are going to happen, not the bad things that have already happened.’
“And Cal said a few minutes ago that it’s never going to be the same as it once was “and those who do things the old way will get left behind.”
Jaguar season ticket sales have plunged in the past year after the team’s 5-11 record and the nation’s financial problems.
“We’re down significantly,” said Connolly, “and we understand why. People don’t have the discretionary money they once did.”
He used the analogy of the five food groups.
“Those five (meat, dairy, etc.) are the essentials,” he said. “We’re the fat and oil. We may make food taste better, but we aren’t essential.”
So, the Jaguars are changing the way they sell tickets.
“We’re selling smaller packages,” said Connolly, “where a fan can get five games instead of all 10.
“And, we’re going to the baseball model of getting groups to come. We make this attractive by discounting the tickets. Your group can buy $50 tickets for $40 each. The 10 bucks can either go back to the organization or to the person buying the ticket. It’s also a good way for companies to reward employees - they can subsidize part of the ticket price.”
The city’s size hasn’t produced enough ticket sales, he said.
“If we sold just one ticket for every 10 households in this area, we would sell out,” said Connolly. “It’s even more important in a smaller community and Jacksonville is 47th nationally in homes with television sets, which is the statistic we use.
“The teams in our division are ahead of us: Houston is 10th, Indianapolis is 25th and Nashville is 29th.”
All expect sellouts at almost every game; the Jaguars will have none this year, if sales go as they have been.
“The Realtors and builders are our best friends,” said Connolly. “We can’t sell anything until you do. You get the people here, then they’ll come to me.
“I was thinking about selling real estate when I retire, but that won’t work - the ways things are going, I’ll be 81 when I retire.”