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 Jacksonville
Municipal
Stadium
When one thinks of Jacksonville and
football, there first thought may be the Gator Bowl, the annual
college football bowl game played in the city since 1946. However
for over a decade the Jacksonville Jaguars have been a part of the
football scene in the city. Decades before the Jaguars played
their first game in Jacksonville there had been discussions of the
Baltimore Colts or the Houston Oilers moving. Neither of these
teams moved and in 1989 Touchdown Jacksonville! was formed to
bring a NFL franchise to the city. Professional football in
Jacksonville became one step closer to reality in 1991 when the
NFL announced they would expand by two teams. Five cities were in
the running for the two teams including Charlotte, St. Louis,
Baltimore, Memphis and Jacksonville. In order for the NFL to
consider the city for a team, a new stadium would need to be
constructed or the Gator Bowl would have to be renovated. In July
1993 negotiations with the city to reconstruct the Gator Bowl
failed and it appeared Jacksonville was out of the running for a
NFL franchise. However, interest in getting a team did not die and
the city eventually renegotiated to commit to spending $60 million
to reconstruct the Gator Bowl. On November 30, 1993 the NFL
awarded the city a franchise.
Construction for a new stadium on the site of the Gator Bowl began
on January 3, 1994 and was completed 19.5 months later by opening
day 1995.
Originally named
Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, the Jaguars
played their first game at the stadium on August 18, 1995. The
stadium consists of over 76,000 blue seats. Two, two tier
grandstands of seats are located on both sides of the playing
field. The lower deck circles the entire playing field. Two
60-by-156-foot video/scoreboards are located at both ends of the
stadium. In 1997, Alltel Communications purchased the
 naming
rights to the stadium, thus the stadium was known as Alltel
Stadium. In preparation for the Super Bowl in 2005, $47 million
was spent upgrading the stadium. Upgrades included the 25,000
square feet Bud Zone sports bar at the south end of the stadium
and a larger video board. In 2007, the stadium was renamed Jacksonville Municipal
Stadium. The stadium has many amenities including 10,000 club
seats and two Crown Royal Touchdown Clubs that provide more than 65,000 square
feet of air-conditioned comfort with a variety of food and
beverage selections. Jacksonville Municipal Stadium hosts many other events other
than Jaguars games, including the annual Gator Bowl and
concerts. Because
of low attendance in recent years, the Jaguars have tarped off
seven sections of seating in the upper deck. This reduces the
capacity by over 9,000 seats to just over 67,000.
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