Owning an NFL team was a lifelong dream for new Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan, who talked about the opportunity Friday at EverBank Field after being introduced by Wayne Weaver, who has owned the franchise for 18 years.
“It’s a miracle that Jacksonville, thanks to Wayne and his partners got the franchise to begin with and, as I’ve stated, we are committed to this community,” said Khan while meeting the media in Jacksonville for the first time.
“We are going to be carrying on the work that was started here in perpetuity and hopefully move it up a notch,” he said.
That will include a league title, according to Khan.
Owning a franchise “was one thing left on our bucket list and now it is scratched off,” he said.
“Now we are starting a new bucket list with a Super Bowl championship right on top,” he said.
Khan is the president and owner of Illinois-based Flex-N-Gate Corp., which lists itself as the 14th largest North American automotive parts supplier.
Khan worked at Flex-N-Gate during college. After graduating in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Illinois, Khan left the company to create his own venture, Bumper Works, with his savings and a small business loan.
He designed and produced a one-piece bumper that eliminated seams to prevent rust and corrosion. Two years later his former employer was for sale and Khan bought the company.
Not having much luck selling to the domestic market at the time, Khan made sales calls to Japanese auto manufacturers and by the mid-1980s there were few foreign trucks coming through Jacksonville’s ports without one of Khan’s bumpers.
“Jacksonville in the mid-’80s was the import truck capital of the world,” said Khan. “It was the No. 1 port for Toyota, Nissan, Isuzu and so on. If you were in the truck business you had to be here,” he said.
“I came here and nobody knew me, but we had a lot of success. We went from supplying nothing to supplying 100 percent for the market,” he said.
Flex-N-Gate now employs more than 12,450 people at 50 manufacturing plants and nine product development and engineering facilities throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Spain.
The company supplies domestic and foreign auto manufacturers now, and Khan is always on the lookout for another opportunity in Florida and in Jacksonville.
“We are always growing. We are always looking. I want to see what the opportunities are,” said Khan.
“We have investments in Alabama now. The auto industry is moving south. If it makes sense, we would like to take a look at that,” he said.
Khan’s success with Flex-N-Gate also has allowed him to branch out into other fields.
He is an owner of Bio-Alternative, which was created to offer biodiesel fuel as an efficient, affordable and sustainable energy alternative.
Khan’s son, Tony Khan, is the manager of Covington, Ind.-based Bio-Alternatives.
Shahid Khan also owns Smart Structures, based in Rantoul, Ill. Its goal is to provide cost-effective bridge management through structural monitoring.
Weaver announced on Nov. 29 his intentions to sell the team to Khan. There has been speculation for years that the team would move.
Since the sale announcement, Khan has said repeatedly that he is committed to keeping the Jaguars in Jacksonville.
“Until a couple of weeks ago, there was some move-a-phobia, for the lack of a better word,” he said.
While the team continues to be based in Jacksonville, Khan wants the Jaguars to play on the international level as well.
“The NFL is going to be developing an international fan base. Why shouldn’t it be the Jaguars?” said Khan.
“I think it would serve Jacksonville well to play a game or two overseas to get the name Jacksonville out there,” he said.
“If you look at some of the International Premier League (soccer) teams, they have a huge fan following overseas, Middle East, India, Pakistan, Malaysia. I think, in the long run, the NFL will be doing something like that,” he said.
“Why shouldn’t we be one of the flag carriers? It’s in the Jaguars’ best interest to get our hat in the ring and really actively pursue a game or two overseas,” he said.
This season is the fifth year of the NFL’s international regular-season game initiative. The league will play up to two regular-season games outside the United States in 2012.
Before the overseas market is developed, Khan will focus on the stateside community. That focus will include the charitable work done by the Jaguars Foundation.
“What they have done we will be continuing and, again, our goal would be to keep the spirit and move it up a notch,” said Khan.
Khan’s wife, Ann Carlson Khan, will be involved with the foundation and acknowledged how tough it will be to follow in the footsteps of Delores Barr Weaver, who led the foundation.
“She is leaving some pretty big shoes to fill, but I will do my best to continue her efforts,” said Ann Carlson Khan.
At a meeting of the 32 NFL owners Wednesday, Shahid Khan was approved unanimously as the new owner of the Jaguars.
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