Jacksonville University president Tim Cost will be much more than an Average Joe fan when world-class “footballers” from Brazil and Germany dig in their spikes Saturday at EverBank Field.
In a way, he’s a star of the show.
If not for Cost, Jacksonville wouldn’t be co-hosting the Florida Cup, which is slated to be televised to 215 million households in 125 countries, says Alan Verlander, the JAX Sports executive director.
Cost has been friends with Ricardo Villar, the Florida Cup principal organizer, since Villar helped recruit Cost’s son, Drew, to play soccer at Penn State University in 2007. The relationship grew through the years and spawned a mid-2014 telephone call from Villar to the JU chief about the notion of Jacksonville co-hosting a four-team international soccer tournament.
A huge professional soccer fan, Cost says the discussion continued as Villar introduced him to Flavio Augusto da Silva, majority owner of the Major League Soccer squad Orlando City, and visited Cost at his Ponte Vedra Beach residence.
A former Brazilian soccer star, Villar played collegiately at Penn State and professionally in the United States. He is the international relations director for 2SV, whose sports and education ventures include assisting Brazilians who want to study or play sports in the United States.
“We started talking about the incredible and popular clubs, and whether there was an appetite to bring them to Jacksonville,” Cost said.
Cost brought his close friend Verlander into the mix and, by fall, the deal with 2SV was done.
“Tim had a conversation with Ricardo, and this thing grew organically from there …” Verlander said of the Florida Cup, the first event of its kind in the United States. “We brought (Gator Bowl Sports President) Rick Catlett to the table and said we need to get a part of that action in Jacksonville. Here we are. We got it.”
The Florida Cup “clubs for nations” tournament format features four teams representing the most successful countries in the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup.
After a Brazil vs. Germany semifinal double-header in Orlando Thursday, the Florida Cup will culminate Saturday with a double-header.
The headlining club is Corinthians, a Brazilian squad that won the FIFA Club World Cup in 2012.
The Jacksonville and Orlando games will air in the United States on ESPN Deportes and ESPN 3, as well as in Canada, Asia, Africa, Europe and South America on various networks. Verlander said Tuesday that nearly 4,000 tickets had been sold for the Jacksonville matches.
“Whether 3,000 people come out to the game or 15,000 people come out to the game, I think we’re going to be able to show to people, no matter what happens on the field that day, that we can attract these kinds of events,” Cost said.
More soccer than ever
Jacksonville is on a perpetual soccer roll:
• In June, EverBank Field drew a Florida-record soccer crowd of 52,033 spectators for the United States’ final World Cup tune-up match against Nigeria.
• English League champion Fulham, owned by Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan, played American club D.C. United in July at EverBank Field.
• Last week, the United States Soccer Federation selected Jacksonville as one of 24 cities vying to host the 2016 Copa America Centenario, the international championship for North America and America. The 16-team competition is expected to draw Argentina’s Lionel Messi, Brazil’s Neymar and other international stars.
• On Feb. 7, the Jacksonville Armada will make its North American Soccer League debut — an EverBank Field exhibition match versus Major League Soccer’s Philadelphia Union. The Union also played exhibitions in Jacksonville in 2013 and 2014.
Cost said his role in bringing the Florida Cup to Northeast Florida parallels the college’s “deep interest in attracting and retaining more and more global students.” JU’s spring enrollment includes students from all 50 states and at least 35 foreign countries.
“It’s a powerhouse opportunity to display Jacksonville’s emerging as a world-class sports and entertainment city …” said Cost. “I think (the Florida Cup) enriches the economy and the culture of the community. This is a forward-leaning thing to do and is very consistent with what we’re trying to do at the university.”
Cost’s part in the Florida Cup planning has been as a private citizen and not as JU’s president; still, he says he believes that the U.S.-Nigeria World Cup tune-up directly impacted JU’s enrollment. With 23 Nigerian students at the college this spring, JU’s largest representation of non-U.S. students is from that African country, he said.
“Anybody can tell me that happens to be a coincidence,” he said. “I’m going to say it’s not.”
Also, two current Jacksonville University enrollees are products of the 2SV program, but are not soccer players, Cost said.
Verlander said in addition to Cost’s contributions, Villar’s experience in the international market was a key to the Florida Cup expanded to Jacksonville. The Florida Cup was initially conceived as a single-city event.
“I think it’s hard for us as Americans, and it’s hard especially in Jacksonville, to understand how big it is that the clubs are playing each other and in Jacksonville,” Verlander said. “If you look at these clubs and their international following, this is huge. This would literally be like when the NFL goes overseas and plays in London. It’s huge over there.”
Keep it coming back
Organizers hope the Florida Cup will be an annual event. In addition to players and fans converging upon central and northeast Florida, hundreds of international media professionals will attend the Jacksonville game, said Paul Astleford, Visit Jacksonville president and CEO.
“That alone will give the city of Jacksonville great exposure as an international sports destination,” he said. “We currently have the facilities and the infrastructure to host many more big sporting events. International events like the Florida Cup help us put a big sign over the Sport Complex that says, ‘Open for Business.’”
The lineup for the Florida Cup matches in Jacksonville pits two-time FIFA world-champion Corinthians against Union of European Football Associations Champions League club Bayer Leverkusen, of Germany, at 1 p.m., and four-time Brazilian champion Fluminense vs. three-time German champion 1.FC Koln at 3:30 p.m.
An aggregated point system for the tournament will determine a national winner.
Tickets start at $35 and are available through Ticketmaster. More information is available at floridacup.com.