As a curious individual I was wondering if the Jaguars suffer from fan apathy due to the city having such a large transplant population.
Seems in my daily interactions many folks just grew up somewhere else and remained loyal to their teams such as GB, NE, and many others.
Is this true? I know having grown up in Indianapolis that for years the Bears maintained a high level of the fan base. That changed around 1995 and with so few transplants the fans started coming around to where now on Friday that city is
Die hard Colts Blue!!
How did most become Jaguar fans? Did you group here? Why did you become a fan?
Quote:As a curious individual I was wondering if the Jaguars suffer from fan apathy due to the city having such a large transplant population.
Seems in my daily interactions many folks just grew up somewhere else and remained loyal to their teams such as GB, NE, and many others.
Is this true? I know having grown up in Indianapolis that for years the Bears maintained a high level of the fan base. That changed around 1995 and with so few transplants the fans started coming around to where now on Friday that city is
Die hard Colts Blue!!
How did most become Jaguar fans? Did you group here? Why did you become a fan?
My guess is that most people became fans when the jaguars came into existence.
second guess is when or if people moved to the area.
most people already had fan allegiance when the team was created, so it could take a couple generations to really increase the fan base.
Short answer: yes
same can be said for Miami and Tampa and any other professional sports team in Florida.
Quote:As a curious individual I was wondering if the Jaguars suffer from fan apathy due to the city having such a large transplant population.
Seems in my daily interactions many folks just grew up somewhere else and remained loyal to their teams such as GB, NE, and many others.
Is this true? I know having grown up in Indianapolis that for years the Bears maintained a high level of the fan base. That changed around 1995 and with so few transplants the fans started coming around to where now on Friday that city is
Die hard Colts Blue!!
How did most become Jaguar fans? Did you group here? Why did you become a fan?
My guess is most people switched to being hardcore Colt fans when Manning came in and you won consistently. The same thing would happen here if the team does well.
Quote:My guess is most people switched to being hardcore Colt fans when Manning came in and you won consistently. The same thing would happen here if the team does well.
That is exactly the case in Indy. When I first moved up there in 91 the old Hoosier/RCA dome was a ghost town on Sunday and the Colts were the team that was always rumored to be moving. There were a few exciting years when Harbaugh became "Captain Comeback" and then the bandwagon exploded when Manning started his run.
I became a Jaguars fan the second the city was awarded the team. I lived in Jax during all the years that the Colts, Falcons, Saints, Oilers and even the patriots used the city to get a better deal where they were. The second the Jags were announced they became my team. I was born in New Orleans, but grew up in Jacksonville. Jags are by far my favorite team, the Saints are still second.
The "Fan apathy" thing is Jax is over blown. We are currently 21st in ticket sales this year. The team in 20th? Indy. Sort that list by (what in my opinion is a more relevant stat) and we are still 23rd in sales based on percentage of available tickets. (To be fair, Indy jumps all the way up to fourth when using that standard). 23rd leaves plenty of room for improvement but is hardly as bad as the media would have you believe.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/attendance/_/sort/homePct
Since Oct 1993. (when franchise was awarded to Jacksonville)
Quote:My guess is most people switched to being hardcore Colt fans when Manning came in and you won consistently. The same thing would happen here if the team does well.
I do know it increased. To be fair Jim Harbaugh started the change. His style at the time suited the hard working middle class fanbase to wear more blue.
But living here now I notice the media attention the Jags pale in comparison to what the locals do in Indy. It seems like he jaguars are not getting a fair shake. I was eating at a steakhouse on Beach Blvd a few Sunday's ago and was shocked that so few were supporting the Jags. The Patrons had pretty well covered all 32 teams. I guess I would have expected a larger pool of Bortles jerseys.
Quote:I do know it increased. To be fair Jim Harbaugh started the change. His style at the time suited the hard working middle class fanbase to wear more blue.
But living here now I notice the media attention the Jags pale in comparison to what the locals do in Indy. It seems like he jaguars are not getting a fair shake. I was eating at a steakhouse on Beach Blvd a few Sunday's ago and was shocked that so few were supporting the Jags. The Patrons had pretty well covered all 32 teams. I guess I would have expected a larger pool of Bortles jerseys.
The Jags have been so bad, for so long, it will take a bit of time for some of the bandwaggoners to get on board. We're doing pretty well (ticket sales wise) without them. When we start consistently winning Everbank will be ROCKING.
The media in Jax is pathetic. Not Bob Lamey pathetic... but pretty bad.
Quote:The Jags have been so bad, for so long, it will take a bit of time for some of the bandwaggoners to get on board. We're doing pretty well (ticket sales wise) without them. When we start consistently winning Everbank will be ROCKING.
The media in Jax is pathetic. Not Bob Lamey pathetic... but pretty bad.
To be fair Bob Lamey is employed by the Indianapolis Colts.
I must say I love the firehouse sub deal. Kudos to the Jags.
And I didn't mean ticket sales. I pass so many cars supporting teams other than Jags. I am used to Friday pep rally's the city throws, a dedicated 15 minute spot in local news with nothin but Colts info nightly. Heck Polian had his own show. Seems the city could do more.
Quote:To be fair Bob Lamey is employed by the Indianapolis Colts.
And I didn't mean ticket sales. I pass so many cars supporting teams other than Jags. I am used to Friday pep rally's the city throws, a dedicated 15 minute spot in local news with nothin but Colts info nightly. Heck Polian had his own show. Seems the city could do more.
I wasn't aware Lamey was employed by the Colts, I assumed he was employed by the radio station.. I guess that explains why he is such a homer. LOL.
Don't forget, Jax is a big Navy town which means we have a lot of not only transplant, but "temporary" residents who are based here. Those folks generally keep their hometown allegiances. The Jags have a solid fan base that is growing despite the product of the field. We'll win a few of the transplants over when we start winning. Hard to convince someone to change their team when the Jags have been irrelevant at best for several years.
I do agree the Jacksonville media could and should do more. The Jags changed media partners this year and I think some things have already improved but since I don't live in Jax I can't really comment on how much.
Indy did have some pretty fun pep rallies but if I remember correctly that was usually only before big (playoff, Monday Night, or Season Opener) games. Plus to be completely honest, Downtown Indy and the stadium location is MUCH more conducive to that sort of thing then Downtown Jax and where Everbank field is. Besides, it is hard to have a pep rally when we are just hoping to keep most games close. (sigh)
Back in the days when the Jags were winning there was quite a bit more buzz in the air.
Quote:I wasn't aware Lamey was employed by the Colts, I assumed he was employed by the radio station.. I guess that explains why he is such a homer. LOL.
Don't forget, Jax is a big Navy town which means we have a lot of not only transplant, but "temporary" residents who are based here. Those folks generally keep their hometown allegiances. The Jags have a solid fan base that is growing despite the product of the field. We'll win a few of the transplants over when we start winning. Hard to convince someone to change their team when the Jags have been irrelevant at best for several years.
I do agree the Jacksonville media could and should do more. The Jags changed media partners this year and I think some things have already improved but since I don't live in Jax I can't really comment on how much.
Indy did have some pretty fun pep rallies but if I remember correctly that was usually only before big (playoff, Monday Night, or Season Opener) games. Plus to be completely honest, Downtown Indy and the stadium location is MUCH more conducive to that sort of thing then Downtown Jax and where Everbank field is. Besides, it is hard to have a pep rally when we are just hoping to keep most games close. (sigh)
Back in the days when the Jags were winning there was quite a bit more buzz in the air.
Well my daughter decided she wanted a Jags jersey so she got one. Maybe that is the start of a new generation.
I always wondered I the immediate success te team had as an expansion franchise spoiled the fans by winning to quickly.
Suffice to say I want the Jags to do well. I really do it makes things a little more fun around the city!
I became a Jaguars fan while living in central Ohio. Before that, I was already a Broncos and Packers fan. I do not believe people should stop rooting for one team just to root for another team. That will never make any sense to me. So although the Jaguars are my favorite team now, I will always root for the Broncos and Packers too. I also do not think your location should dictate the team you root for. If that was true, I would be a Bengals and Browns fan despite not liking either of those teams.
I think fan apathy (what there is of it) is a result of the team being put into the same division as Peyton freaking Manning for no absolutely good reason. Which meant that we'd never win the AFC South. Then the Colts got Luck, and our chances of ever winning the AFC South remained low. And will remain low until we finish our rebuild.
The re-alignment hurt the team a lot I think. Obviously the constant rebuilds didn't help any.
But suddenly we lost one of our biggest rivals (The Steelers), and our two new rivals were:
-Peyton Manning's team, which would become a thorn in our side forever. (And was all the way up there in Indianapolis)
and
-The newbie expansion team nobody had any reason to have any real feelings towards.
I'm 34. I was 13 when we were awarded the team. Most people I know close to my age are Jaguar fans. Their kids are Jaguar fans. My son is 7 and is a die-hard. I see alot of Jaguar stuff at his school. I know once the team gets good, there will be even more. That will be a fun time around this town. I remember how great it was in 1996 during the Jaguars playoff run.
The transplants are definitely a factor. For many- The Jaguars were/are their adopted 2nd team.
Great weather with a cheap cost of living while bordering The Atlantic Ocean makes Jax a wonderful place to live.
PS- There were very few "Colts" fans in Indy until Peyton Manning came along. He made that franchise.
Quote:I think fan apathy (what there is of it) is a result of the team being put into the same division as Peyton freaking Manning for no absolutely good reason. Which meant that we'd never win the AFC South. Then the Colts got Luck, and our chances of ever winning the AFC South remained low. And will remain low until we finish our rebuild.
The re-alignment hurt the team a lot I think. Obviously the constant rebuilds didn't help any.
But suddenly we lost one of our biggest rivals (The Steelers), and our two new rivals were:
-Peyton Manning's team, which would become a thorn in our side forever. (And was all the way up there in Indianapolis)
and
-The newbie expansion team nobody had any reason to have any real feelings towards.
I had never really thought about your point until just now, but I think you're definitely onto something there. If all else fails, I can always wax romantic with Steelers and Ravens fans about the Good Ole Days of the AFC Central.
Quote:Since Oct 1993. (when franchise was awarded to Jacksonville)
Correction: November 30, 1993.
I didn't become a Jags fan until around 09, had a couple part time jobs in college one was at the stadium (worked great since it was on the weekends), literally got paid to stand and watch the game (though had to give out directions here and there).
Was always a Bucs fan (still catch them every Sunday), figured it doesn't hurt to root for the home team also since they're in different conferences anyways.
I became a fan when I moved here in 2001. I started following the team simply because I believe in supporting the home team, but after a few years i got season tickets and they became my favorite sports team in any sports and replaced the Jets as my favorite NFL team.