The Jacksonville Jaguars and Publix Super Markets Inc. announced a five-year deal Saturday to make the grocery chain the "Official Supermarket of the Jaguars," an anticipated move following the end of a deal with Winn-Dixie Stores Inc.
Representatives of the Jaguars and Lakeland-based Publix announced the deal before the team's second day of training camp. It came less than a week after the Daily Record first reported the sponsorship agreement between the team and Jacksonville-based Winn-Dixie expired and was not renewed in a mutual decision.
That partnership first kicked off during the franchise's 1995 inaugural season.
Scott Massey, Jaguars senior vice president of corporate sponsorships, said Saturday the deal with Publix represents a partnership with a community leader. He referred to a July 24 article in Forbes that calls Publix "the most profitable grocery chain in the nation."
The Jaguars and Publix did not release the financial details of the sponsorship.
Scott Brubaker, Publix Jacksonville Division vice president, said the partnership with the team will be for "the betterment of the entire community."
After the news conference, Massey said the team and company had been actively talking "for the better part of 2013" about the deal and the relationship recently was finalized.
Massey and Brubaker declined to comment on the financial aspects of the deal. Massey said it was out of respect for the team's partners.
Massey said Jaguars fans should expect to see significant branding on the exterior and interior of EverBank Field.
There also will be fan engagement opportunities for pregame tailgating and in-game "Tailgater of the Game" and what Massey calls a "fun contest" that will involve "human hamsters" racing each other.
"Human hamster races" often refers to people climbing into oversized, inflatable hamster balls and racing to a specified destination by rolling.
"Tailgating is synonymous with football," Massey said of the pregame fan engagement contests.
"The presumption is they (fans) will purchase them (tailgate items) at Publix and they will be rewarded for doing so," he said.
Brubaker said the 58 Publix stores within the Jacksonville metropolitan area will be designed to "make you understand you're in Jaguars country."
He said staff also will "make it as easy as possible" for fans to bring food into the game by helping pack store-bought food into clear, one-gallon plastic bags.
The team last year announced fans could bring food into EverBank Field in such bags.
The first 750 fans in attendance at Saturday's training camp session were invited to a complimentary tailgate party hosted by Publix outside the practice fields.
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