Wayne Weaver, shoe magnate and founder of Nine West.įrom the time Touchdown Jacksonville! came to being, it faced several challenges. After some defections and mutinies, the group came to be led by J. In 1991 this group confidently announced that it would call its team the Jacksonville Jaguars. The original ownership group included future Governor Jeb Bush and Jacksonville developer and political kingmaker Tom Petway. The group called itself Touchdown Jacksonville! and placed its formal application with the NFL in 1991. It had formed even before the NFL announced its intentions to expand, in 1989. However, the biggest potential obstacle for the Jacksonville bid was nonstop turmoil and conflict surrounding the potential ownership group. Also, Jacksonville was the smallest television market in the running it was the only one not ranked in the top 50 Nielsen markets. Any expansion team would also have to compete not only with Florida's three major college football teams-Florida State, Florida and Miami-but also the Georgia Bulldogs, who have a fairly large fan base in the Jacksonville area due to Jacksonville's close proximity to the Georgia state line. Florida already had two NFL teams: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who played about a four-hour ride away, and the Miami Dolphins. Though not as strong a bid, Memphis was still considered an outside possibility, as the NFL did not have a presence in the area.įor many reasons, Jacksonville was considered the darkest horse in the field. Louis were considered the heavy favorites, with Baltimore also a strong possibility. Louis, Missouri Baltimore, Maryland Memphis, Tennessee and Jacksonville. Five cities were ultimately chosen as finalists for the two new teams: Charlotte, North Carolina St. The league had not expanded since the 1976 season with the addition of Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the sport growing the NFL felt the time was right to add additional franchises. In 1991, the NFL announced that it would add two new teams, originally in time for the 1993 season. Great efforts were made to lure the Oilers, including the creation of a "Jacksonville Oilers" banner and designation of a specific section of the Gator Bowl as a non-alcohol, family section for proposed home games. City leaders also attempted to get the Houston Oilers to move to Jacksonville at one point in the late 1980s. The city briefly attempted to lure the Baltimore Colts, whose owner Robert Irsay famously landed a helicopter in the stadium as thousands of Jacksonville citizens urged him to move the team there. The city also hosted the American Football League All Star Game in 19. The stadium hosted short-lived teams in both the World Football League Jacksonville Sharks/Express) and the United States Football League (Jacksonville Bulls) and the occasional NFL exhibition game. The Gator Bowl stadium was built out of steel trusses during the Great Depression and was frequently built onto, with the final addition of the reinforced-concrete west upper deck coming in 1982. The annual Georgia-Florida game is also played in Jacksonville. Jacksonville is one of four NFL franchises that have never played in the Super Bowl, alongside the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, and division rival Houston Texans.Įvery year the city hosts the Gator Bowl, an annual civic highlight traditionally accompanied by parties, ceremonies, parades and other events leading up to the game. The Jaguars have been less successful since, with only three playoff appearances and two division titles since 2000. They are the youngest NFL expansion team to appear in a conference championship (by their second season in 1996, along with the Panthers) and clinch their conference's top seed (by their fifth season in 1999). The Jaguars saw early success, making the playoffs in each of their second through fifth seasons, a four-year span in which they won two division titles and appeared in two AFC Championship Games. The franchise is owned by Shahid Khan, who bought the team from its original majority owner Wayne Weaver in 2012. The Jaguars competed in the AFC Central until they were moved to the AFC South in 2002. The Jaguars, along with the Carolina Panthers, joined the NFL as expansion teams in 1995. They are currently members of the Southern Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team located in Jacksonville, Florida.
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