I have been a Jacksonville Jaguars season ticket holder for each year of the team’s existence – spending tens of thousands of dollars on the franchise over the past 30 years. This year is likely my last.
I have retained my seats every year because I’m a crazy, lifelong fan of NFL football. From the Giants as a grade-schooler, to the Dolphins after they drafted Larry Csonka in 1966, to the Jags in 1995. I love NFL football; the Jags were exciting and the team was dedicated to winning.
Less than 24 hours after one of the Jaguars’ worst performances in its history, a 12-7 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, I heard a radio commercial for the next home game, December 1 against the Houston Texans. Houston is a division rival, is atop the division standings, and has some fantastic playmakers like WR Nico Collins, RB Joe Mixon, and QB CJ Stroud. So how are the Jags marketing the game?
“Come see the Jaguars in their new custom designer cleats!”
Cleats?? Really??
If I want to go to a fashion show, I’ll go… well, I’ll go to a psychiatrist. I guess if I want to see football I need to go elsewhere. Because this franchise sure isn’t selling, or playing, NFL football. The commercial tells me loudly and clearly that the people who run this franchise are not serious about building a long-term or even short-term winner.
The team started marketing the “fan experience” several years ago. (See “Swimming pools”) To be fair, the actual football product just wasn’t marketable. It stunk. I stopped feeling valued as a season ticket holder but stayed anyway – simply out of my love for the game. Now, after hearing the “cleats commercial,” I feel used, mocked, and even pimped.
Enough is enough.
Two years from now, the Jaguars will be playing in a brand new, state-of-the-art, $1.4 billion stadium – $775 million will be financed by public tax dollars. I suspect ticket prices will take a big jump, too.
I can’t do anything about the public funding, but I can do something about my own discretionary budget. The NFL RedZone is a heck of a lot cheaper, and I get to see all NFL games from my couch. The beers won’t cost $18 each. And the “men’s room” is just steps away – with no line.
And then, for all I care, the Jags can wear pink ballet slippers.
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Now What? 
Well written as usual although a little bittersweet. As it seems with most things, everything was better in the old days. And that is partly true, like how music was better back then because all the musicians were expected to actually sing, no auto tune or lip sync and everyone was expected to play their instruments, not sample or mix other people’s work. But, last year I saw Queen and although rock’s most amazing frontman, Freddie Mercury has shuffled off this mortal coil decades ago (shockingly 33 years on the 24th), through today’s technology, I was able to hear a sweet, acoustic duet of Love of My Life with Brian May. Something born from the mix of old original music with something new. It works. And that’s how you have to look at the new ways football is finding its way. Lots of people will feel like you and will say “thank you, next” but lots of others might like it. And they can pony up that extra cash needed to pay for those new season tickets when the shiny new stadium is built. I’m sure you’ll go and check it out and then you might kick yourself for letting your seats go. But I suspect you’ll be happy to watch the games in the comfort of your own home.
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