Quote:The problem is, there are too many "college minded fans" in this city.  I hear it all the time where I work.  On Monday mornings they are talking about the college games and don't know what happened in the NFL games other than if the Jaguars won or lost.  Quite a few of them will even travel to games that are out of town (Gainsville, Tallahassee), but won't bother to show up to a game in their home town.

 

When you talk to these people, they usually give an answer regarding college football vs. the NFL with something like "I would rather watch guys trying to be millionaires before they become millionaires".

 

These people fail to see how much faster the NFL game is over college, and don't appreciate the fact that these (NFL) players are the best in the country.  Take the worst NFL team and have them play the "best" college team and it wouldn't even be a game.  The NFL team would kill the college team.

 

I personally remember when the stadium was full, prior to the tarps when the team was winning (late 1990's and early 2000's) and the noise in the stadium was deafening.

 

When you're fielding a 4-7 team with no known national "stars" (that's changing by the way) against another team with a losing record, you aren't going to get the crowd that you want... period.  My prediction is that after a couple of more seasons, tickets will be a little more hard to come by for a home Jaguars game.

 

I'd say my family falls into this category.  We have two season tickets and have been season ticket holders since day 1; however, my entire family, myself included, went to FSU and have been FSU fans and going to FSU game for MUCH longer than the Jaguars have been in existence.  I'll always choose to go to or watch an FSU game over any NFL game.  Sometimes, the schedules don't match up and/or it's too tiring to make the trip to the college game and get back and also go to the Jaguars games.

 

I would say the same is very true for UF fans, as well.  This past game, being not only Thanksgiving weekend, but also the FSU vs. UF game hurt as well.  Although they've been down and quiet in recent years, Jacksonville is a Gator town and that was a big game for them at night they thought they could win.  I'm sure a ton of Gator fans that are also Jaguars fans went to that game at night.  Not only is it tough to get back and go to the game the next day, but getting dominated by FSU probably demoralized them to the point that they didn't want to do anything the next day.

 

In addition to this, I also agree with what another poster said above.  I've tried giving my 2 tickets away to people for free, and lots of times no one wants them.  Lots of people would rather be comfortable in their air conditioned home than watch the Jaguars get beat in the burning 1:00PM sun.

 

Lastly, as others have said, consistent winning will cure a lot of these problems.

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