In the latest sign that the Dallas Cowboys have created a monster, the Jacksonville Jaguars owners announced yesterday that they’ll be building not one but two giant video boards, measuring 55 by 301 feet each, in each end zone of EverBank Field. That’s “one foot longer than the length of the field,” notes NBC Sports’ Mike Florio.
The new screens, plus additional renovations that will remove 7,000 seats, will cost $63 million and, according to Florio, the team will pay for $20 million, while the city of Jacksonville will pay $43 million. The Jacksonville city council still has to figure out where the money will come from, but Gator Bowl Association president Rick Catlett says the council shouldn’t worry its little minds about that:
Catlett said the focus should not be on what this project will cost, but on the tens of millions of dollars the city would lose if it lost some of the national, high-profile events currently held in Jacksonville.
Because in exchange for this, the Jaguars and the Gator Bowl agreed to lease extensions that would … no? No lease extensions? Well, at least now the Jaguars and the Gator Bowl will be happy, and who can put a price on happiness? At least until scoreboards that are merely 2D and no bigger than the field become hopelessly passe.
I just discovered this site, and your book, because of this matter. Let’s make it clear, I’m not a big fan of the NFL; for me, professional sports is a distraction, but I love the Red Socks anyway (different sport, different city, I know). Locally, the reaction to this has been mixed, as expected. This announcement was made not quite a week after the city announced the closing of six libraries due to a shortfall of $2.4 million. This in addition to closings of fire stations and a crumbling infrastructure.
Jacksonville is your typical southern (ahem… suhthuhn) city in its love of the gridiron, and of course a good many of our local fans are giddy with the prospect at having the largest scoreboard in the NFL. They seem dismissive of the real problems this city faces, or have the wishful thinking that this will help.
I don’t know. I just don’t know anymore.
Jacksonville may be a dump but they have to make sure they keep that Georgia/Florida game. That game does nothing for the Jags (in fact one could argue it hurts the Jags because it prevents the team from knocking down 20,000 or so seats) but it brings in an insane amount of business. When I stayed at the convention center one of the local establishments was saying they just about make their year in that one week.
The University of Florida is threatening to move?
Perhaps they could give the seats they are removing to the Steelers?
Well, the 2012 season was marked by a 2-14 record with both wins being by less than a TD and followed up by a rematch game the Jaguars lost. The scoreboards may be more exciting than the team for the next several years, unless the new coach has some amazing Cinderella run.
I guess Mike Florio hasn’t seen too many football fields with endzones in his career. They’re kind of a new thing.
I wouldn’t trust this Khan if I were a J’Ville fan. It would be like me buying a team in a tiny market in the Pakistani Cricket League, or whatever. Nobody in the town or at the games really seems to care, and I can only pretend for so long. After all, and for whatever reason, Islamabad doesn’t have a team and I think I can make more money there.
The good folks at Daktronics in South Dakota must be licking their chops at the prospect of all teams trying to put up bigger scoreboards. Mitsubishi’s scoreboard division won’t suffer either (they manufactured Jerry’s board and the center one at the new Yankee Stadium).
Really the Falcons may have the trend right with their origami design. Move the scoreboards higher up to give them more room and then when LEDs get bright enough, replace the stadium lights with the scoreboard elements. Eventually, the scoreboard and the lighting system become one. Not at all as crazy as it sounds when you watch how even mid-level LED ribbon boards change the overall brightness in a stadium today. Cheaper to maintain, too.
Figure out what you want in a city and leave for that city, Rob Little. That’s all you can do. I used to live in Little Rock, so I share your frustration. You’ll be old and gray waiting for Jacksonville to improve. All of the best and brightest leave places like that, and it leaves the people that either don’t care, or they do care but lack the collective brain-power not to screw up every improvement project that they try. (usually just something they copy from better cities) For example, Cincinnati has these painted pigs all over their downtown, and a few years ago I started seeing them all over Little Rock. The local news made it seem like LR thought it up themselves. North Little Rock builds an 18000-seat arena a few years back, but fails to build a parking lot for it. So, you get to park next to an abandoned building with no windows and hope that nobody steals your radio, and that you can walk back to your car without dying.
Mike, if you’d become a pakistani citizen over 20 years ago , received your education there, and made your billions in pakistan, then your scenario might be equivalent. I seriously doubt Khan would ever be interested in living in Pakistan for long periods of time, let alone the NFL permit him to take his team there (even the London matches are a stretch for the players).
I was talking about L.A. I know that I didn’t exactly make it clear.
Neil,
No threat but Legion Field is the lesson. Birmingham failed to keep it modern and the Bama/Auburn game eventually went to the campuses. There has even been talk about that happening to the Cotton Bowl for OU/Texas, though the Texas State Fair will probably keep that there.