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Sunday's slate & Long term troubles for the Jags in Jax

Phew!  The 2007 previews are finally up.  Now we can get down to some regular daily updates at SPF.

Tomorrow's slate of games features these inter-SPF matchups:

Tennessee at Jacksonville
Miami at Washington
Carolina at St Louis

Here's where the rest of our teams will be:

Houston vs. KC
Atlanta at Minnesota
Tampa Bay at Seattle
Dallas vs. NY Giants (Sunday night)

Cincy vs Baltimore (Monday night)

Thursday's Game

Things started with a bang on Thursday as the Colts thumped the Saints.  It is only week one, but the Colts look better than ever.  As mentioned in our preview, the Saints owe their die hard fans another strong year like 2006.

Most people see the Saints as a teetering franchise, but we at SPF are going to focus the light of day on another franchise that is circling the drain even faster than the Saints - the Jacksonville Jaguars.

When the NFL first came to Jacksonville, many figured it was the perfect fit.  Florida's growth merited a third team, and Jacksonville seemed to be a geographical puzzle fit (Miami in the South, Tampa in the middle, and Jacksonville in the north) and a good blue collar football market.  However, things have gone down hill severely since the early success of the Tom Coughlin years.

Maybe it was too much early success that led to a spoiled fan base, but the Jaguars have been unable to sustain a high level of interest in the Jacksonville area. This recent ESPN article chronicles their recent struggles – no corporate sponsor for the stadium, low team revenues, blocking off seats in the stadium to assure sell outs, etc.  Today's Times-Union covers how difficult it was for the Jags to avoid a local blackout of tomorrow's game.

Talking heads muse about the Saints viability in a post-Katrina New Orleans, but at least that team has all of Louisiana, most of Mississippi and others to grow into.  Unfortunately, the NFL failed to realize that Jacksonville has a small market that can't extend. 

The Falcons block them to the north and the Dolphins and Bucs have much larger fan bases in Florida restricting the Jaguars' room for growth within their own state.  Owner Wayne Weaver can deny it all he wants (see recent interviews in the Florida Times-Union and the Orlando Sentinel), but Jacksonville's future as an NFL market is in serious question.  The only real way to succeed is for Jacksonville to grow as large as the Tampa or Orlando markets are today, an occurance which is a decade away if ever.

Most saw the last CBA negotiations as a give away by the big boys to the small markets.  Wayne Weaver was one of the biggest pushers to force the larger markets to share more of their revenues.  Today, he now claims it still isn't enough.

Wayne may love Jacksonville, but he needs to re-think how he is approaching things there.  Colts owner Jim Irsay has a similar market, but he chose to spend money on big time players and coaches.  Weaver has been taking the discount route by selecting a cheaper, first time head coaches.  Also, they cover seats rather than selling them.

Irsay took a big financial gamble by spending on Peyton Manning, Bill Pollian, and Tony Dungy.  Today, the Colts are Super Bowl champs on the verge of moving into a top level new stadium.

Weaver can't be timid in Jacksonville.  He talks about building the right way, but he needs to be bolder than that.  He's not only competing against the Bucs and the Dolphins.  He's also competing against the Gators and the Seminoles.

If Jacksonville can't afford to field the best team possible, then it's time to find a city that can.  Weaver has to stop kidding himself or kidding the public. 

PS  If you don't believe he is, then read his explanation of the Leftwich situation in the interview links above.  Talk about spin, jeesh!

related tags

Southern Pro Football,
Urban,
Coastal,
Jacksonville,
Georgia,
Florida,
Merchantry,
Sports,

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