Quote:Daytona will host an NFL at the facilities regardless of whether or not the Jags participate.

 

The worst thing in the world this franchise could do is allow another team to step into our backyard and steal the show.

 

Worst thing in the world?  Hyperbole much?

 

Quote:The interstate has been running north for 20 years. You are the one who is refusing to accept the fact that it also runs south.

 

You are right, it is a novelty, but it is a novelty that will attract a ton of people and get national exposure, exactly what you need when you are trying to establish a brand and expand your market.

 

Once the novelty wears off, you ditch the venue. No one has said it had to be permanent. Meanwhile, you have exposed a group of people who may have never attended a game or a bunch of young people for who it may be their first game, the NFL particularly the Jaguars.

 

It may not attract a whole bunch of season ticket holders, but it will help establish a firmer presence in the central Florida markets which creates advertising, merchandising, and other revenue streams that this team desperately needs to stay viable in Jax.

 

On top of that, it gives an opportunity to expose the team to a different group of kids who may not have the ability right now to travel to Jacksonville to watch games, who may grow up and become an expansion to the next generation of season ticket holders.

 

There's zero reason for the Jaguars to go to Daytona for a gimmick game where they MIGHT find a few new fans who somehow have managed to not realize there's been an NFL franchise playing 93 miles north of the International Speedway for the last 20 years.  If there are fans who are interested in the Jaguars, that trip is the same distance north as it is south.  Why can't they come to Jacksonville to experience the NFL in an actual NFL stadium instead of at some multi-purpose facility?  If it's about convenience for them, you're not going to reap any real reward there. 

 

Novelty?  It will wear off after one viewing.  Then it goes back to being a speedway. 

 

What the Jaguars are doing with media in that area (radio, print, and TV) will do 1000x more to firm up their presence in central Florida than playing a practice game at the speedway. 

 

Sorry, but we can hook those same kids in by making sure the games and all Jaguar related programming are broadcast to the Daytona market.  That booming metropolis of 125k (I'm counting Ormond and New Smyrna to get them beyond the 62k they actually claim) sitting 90 miles south of EverBank is not going to become a rabid Jaguar market because of a preseason game. 

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