by David Chapman
Staff Writer
As football fans are buying Jacksonville Jaguars’ season tickets for the upcoming season, the City could be returning its own.
The City Council Finance Committee approved a bill Tuesday that would amend the stadium lease between the City and the team and return the unused City tickets to the Jaguars inventory for sale to the public.
The original stadium lease provided the City the right to two reserved suites for all stadium events, but the City hasn’t purchased the tickets in the past three years, said attorney Paul Harden, who represents the team.
If approved by Council, the bill would still allow the City to buy tickets to the two suites for the 2012 season and beyond, but with a July 1 deadline.
If they are not purchased, the suites would return to the team for sale.
Given budget and football season time lines, the 2012 purchase or an agreement to purchase would need to be included in the upcoming budget.
If the City does not buy the suites for the coming year or failed to do so annually, it would lose the rights to them.
The team owns the suites for all events outside of the Jaguars’ season, including the annual Florida-Georgia game and the Gator Bowl. The bill includes an agreement to provide the suites to the schools for those games.
The City also receives the opportunity to buy 25 Terrace Suite tickets, which Harden said the team could sell for this season.
The bill includes a swap of tickets with 15 of the terrace tickets going back to the team in return for 30 East Club tickets, which would be almost equal in value, said Harden.
Also potentially being returned for sale are 10 tickets the City uses for marketing but hasn’t used in recent years. Harden said if the City needed tickets for marketing, it could have access to them with notice.
Council member Warren Jones said he wanted to see language in the bill that would assure the City’s ability to buy suites again in future years, but Harden said the team didn’t want such language included.
Instead, Harden said there is “zero chance” the City would be blocked from buying suites in future years it if chooses to do so.
Chris Hand, Mayor Alvin Brown’s chief of staff, said the lease amendment with the team “strikes a good balance” in ensuring the success of the team and protecting taxpayer dollars.
The measure passed Finance 5-1-1, with Council member Greg Anderson abstaining. Anderson is an executive with EverBank, which has naming rights to the stadium.
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