by David Chapman
Staff Writer
“It’s Go Time.”
That’s the slogan for the 2011 Jacksonville Jaguars players and fans for the season, but for Robert Tilka and the sales office staff it is always “go time.”
Tilka, the Jaguars senior manager of ticket sales and premium seating, and the sales staff of 15 are at the forefront of selling the 15,231 tickets needed to ensure there are no TV blackouts for the upcoming season. That was the number as of noon Wednesday.
Momentum was high heading into the season as Team Teal generated interest in seats, but a more than 18-week lockout in the spring and summer dampened fan enthusiasm.
An 87 percent goal for season ticket holders to renew ended up at more than 70 percent.
With about two weeks before the first home preseason game, Tilka is well aware of the challenge.
“It’s crunch time,” he said. “The goal now is to sell 300-400 seats a day in sales and renewals.”
The sales team has help, though.
The business community has stepped up more than it has in the past, Tilka said, with close to 80 companies purchasing or subsidizing tickets for their employees.
That’s up from more than 50-plus last year and way up from the nine that offered the benefit in 2009.
Mayor Alvin Brown has distributed a letter around the city to encourage ticket sales as well.
Other cities have experienced different results, which Tilka attributes to heightened expectation levels for those teams. Jaguars’ fans should feel excited, too, he said.
“Gene Smith (Jaguars’ general manager) is building something special here,” said Tilka. “People have a winner here. People should be excited.”
Tilka remains excited, even after close to 14 years with the team. He senses a rush on game days when he nears the field during warmups and experiences the wins and successes like other fans.
“For me, it’s never old,” he said.
He’s even had a few moments of fame.
He was on the field as a dancing referee several years ago in a bit that hit Top 10 highlights on sports programs and he has donned the suit as Jaxson de Ville for a United Way charity event hosted by the real Jaxson.
However, it’s the work behind the scenes with other full-time sales representatives that makes the biggest impression. Sellouts mean no blackouts, which means the team and the city can be seen on TV.
Last year, there were no blackouts. The year before, too many, he said.
“We cannot go back to 2009,” he said. “We won’t.”
That means working an average of more than 10 hours a day during the “busy season,” burning up phone lines, sending emails and meeting with companies and buyers, but it’s a job he said is second to none in a city he’s known since the early 1980s, where he married his wife and raised two sons.
“I love it,” he said. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”
He also senses how ticket sales will end up.
“I anticipate us playing every game on (local) TV this year,” he said.
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