The Jacksonville Jaguars' front office is presented with a unique problem when it comes to appealing to fans.
Chad Johnson, the Jaguars' senior vice president of sales, told ESPN that Jacksonville has the second-highest population turnover of an NFL city, only trailing Washington, D.C. With a city that isn't exactly loyal to the franchise, the Jaguars are forced to get creative at EverBank Field.
The team's latest effort to attract fans involves replacing 9,500 seats in the north end zone with a two-level party deck that includes a pair of pools and 16 cabanas. That's right -- fans can now watch Jaguars games while lounging in a pool. The pools each measure 25 feet long, 12 feet wide and 3.5 feet deep.
Each of the four poolside cabanas holds 50 people and is all-you-can-eat and drink. Companies or individuals can rent the cabanas for $12,500 a game, which turns out to be $250 per person. Groups of fans on the upper level can buy 20 tickets for $3,000 ($150 per person). The upper deck does not have pool access.
View of 4 poolside cabanas, 12 upper level cabanas inside Jaguars stadium, being sold for 2014 pic.twitter.com/SZ5LDOn9On
— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) June 9, 2014
Jaguars selling all you can eat/drink in-stadium poolside cabanas for $12,500 a game http://t.co/493W1UGxIc pic.twitter.com/vUbIZkakp8
— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) June 9, 2014
Johnson told ESPN that the team has already sold 65 percent of the cabanas for the 2014 season, and experts are optimistic that interest will remain high.
Jacksonville isn’t exactly a hotbed for corporate America, but betting 4 in-stadium poolside cabanas, at $12,500 a game, get sold out.
— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) June 9, 2014
The poolside cabanas are part of a larger, $63 million renovation to EverBank Field that includes the world's largest HD LED video screens. These screens will be used for in-game replay as well as to show the NFL Red Zone feed.
The Jaguars, who have not had a winning season since 2007, finished 28th in average attendance during the 2013 season. The team averaged roughly 60,000 fans, or 89 percent of stadium capacity, during home games. The Jaguars finished the season 4-12 overall and 1-6 at home (their eighth "home" game was a loss to the San Francisco 49ers in London's Wembley Stadium).
Despite last year's struggles, Jaguars president Mark Lamping recently told reporters that season-ticket renewals are up 10 percent and new season-ticket sales are up 46 percent from last year at the same time. Some of the excitement may be due to the drafting of quarterback Blake Bortles and receivers Marqise Lee and Allen Robinson in the first two rounds.
