Should the Jaguars move to LA?
Well, gosh! It has been a big three days for me here at Black and Teal! According to Adam from Arrowhead Addict, I broke the record for most visits and comments on day one for an FSB blog. Who would have thought a little miss like me, making an off handed comment about a lame ad, would have gotten just so much attention? And I haven’t even talked about football yet! I guess I should do the job I got this blog for.
Jeanne mode: serious.
Isn’t that Josh Scobee character just so darling?
Oh. Wait. No. That isn’t it.
There are a lot of issues facing the Jaguars coming into the 2008 season. Will trading away half our draft picks be worth it? Will Garrard be able to keep up that amazing pass to interception ratio? Will our receiving corps step up? And, on that note, are we really going to keep Matt Jones? Really?
However, there is always the one looming problem that sports commentators love to bring up.
Now, as I mentioned in my first entry, Jaguar fans have a bad rap as fans. We’re flaky. We don’t care enough. We care too much about the Noles/Gators/Hurricanes/Bulldogs. And those gosh darn tarps. They are just an eyesore. So, of course we’re on the top of everyone’s short list of teams to move.
I must preface this by saying that despite the fact that LA is the second largest market, I don’t really agree with them getting a team. They had their chance, let us have ours!
Here is my argument for the Jags staying in Jacksonville, in nice, bulleted form:
- Wayne Weaver was on the committee that fought to get Jacksonville an NFL team. He wanted the team to be here.
- Those tarps are an eye sore. However, The Jack was built way, waaaay to big for the market size. The stadium can hold up to 84,000 people. That is over 10,000 more seats than Heinz Field, Soldiers Field, Lambeau Field and Gillette Stadium all who have a much longer, much more successful history. Also, on top of that, Jacksonville itself is a blue collar town. A lot of people here don’t exactly have the money to spare on season tickets (especially with gas price the way they are) and a lot of them work on Sundays.
- People who grew up watching the Jaguars are just now graduating school and getting their stuff together. They may not have season tickets yet, but they will.
- They don’t want to break my heart.
One of the other problems, that doesn’t deserve its own bullet, is that the Jaguars were way too successful way too fast. We were spoiled rotten and now we’ve grown complacent. How are the Carolina Panthers any different? Vic Ketchum explains here.
"The big difference between the Jaguars and the Panthers is that the Panthers solid Permanent Seat Licences (PSLs). That’s what has allowed them to sell their tickets; the threat of forfeiting their PSLs if they don’t buy their tickets"
On top of that, our 11 minute drives of today are a lot different that Mark Brunnell to Jimmy Smith 64 yard runs. We’re not exactly the most explosive team. Those plays don’t sell tickets. That, however, is more of a problem with the fans. I don’t think it would be much different anywhere else, though.
I am sure next season the same problem will be brought up again. And I will still be here, rolling my eyes at the notion. Keep in mind, the eye roll won’t be because of the ridiciousness of the idea but because I am in total denial and the idea is too hurtful to keep in my head for too long.