July 30, 2010

Jacksonville giving Jaguars $4m bailout on naming-rights deal

Yet another example of stadium subsidies that keep on giving: When the Jacksonville Jaguars agreed to a $16.6 million, five-year naming rights deal with EverBank for their home stadium this week, apparently one key sticking point was that the team really wanted to hold out for more money. So instead, the city of Jacksonville agreed to forgo its 25% cut of the take so that the deal could go through.

Why exactly the city — which still must give final approval of the deal at a council meeting next month — went along with this is a bit unclear. A spokesperson for Mayor John Peyton said, "We believe it is of the utmost importance to do everything we can to ensure the long-term viability of the franchise in Jacksonville"; council president Jack Webb added, "I think we all kind of agreed that given the economic circumstances, let's suck it up for the short term for the good of the city over the long term."

Of course, there's no guarantee that having a naming-rights deal keeps the Jaguars in town, so effectively the city has just handed over $4 million in taxpayer money — it will come out of the city's stadium maintenance fund — as a good-will gesture. It's like taking candy from a baby...