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O-Zone Podcast: Jim Woodcock · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

0:08
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Ozone Podcast presented by by Star Credit Union,
0:13
Speaker 1: featuring Jaguars senior writer John Oser and executive producer Dave
0:17
Speaker 1: the Canvas. All Right, welcome into this week's Ozone podcast.
0:23
Speaker 1: And I've got to tell you I'm excited about this week.
0:26
Speaker 1: This week's guests. It's somebody that I've known for about
0:31
Speaker 1: a decade, about nine years. More importantly to the listeners
0:35
Speaker 1: of this show, more importantly right now, it's somebody who's
0:38
Speaker 1: been around the Jaguars, and more importantly, probably even than that,
0:42
Speaker 1: around Jaguars owner Shod Tan and president Mark Lamping for
0:46
Speaker 1: nine years, and with Mark even beyond that. It's Jim Woodcock.
0:52
Speaker 1: And for those of you who don't know, he's a
0:54
Speaker 1: senior vice president and a partner with Fleischman Hillard and
0:57
Speaker 1: that's it's one of the biggest are firms in the world.
1:01
Speaker 1: But Jim, or Woody, as he's known to people, he's
1:05
Speaker 1: a lifelong resident native of St. Louis. He's been in sports,
1:10
Speaker 1: and he's known Shot since right before Shot brought the Jaguars.
1:15
Speaker 1: He's known him since Shot is involved with trying to
1:17
Speaker 1: purchase the Rams. I could go on and on, because
1:20
Speaker 1: the relationship that Jim has with Mark and was shot.
1:24
Speaker 1: His knowledge of them is very intriguing. That's why I
1:28
Speaker 1: wanted to have him on. So without further ado, Jim,
1:31
Speaker 1: I want to welcome you in and first of all,
1:35
Speaker 1: thank you for doing this, Thank you for taking the time.
1:37
Speaker 1: And how have you been? Thanks John? Every think it's
1:40
Speaker 1: great here. Um. You know, I have not been to
1:43
Speaker 1: Jacksonville sadly all year due to COVID. Uh. I've been
1:47
Speaker 1: following everything you know from far actually have been traveled
1:50
Speaker 1: anywhere for the most part. So it's been in a
1:52
Speaker 1: surreal year for all of us. And I'm no exception
1:55
Speaker 1: of that. But everyone was helping, happy and and we're good.
2:00
Speaker 1: I really appreciate the invite. This is nice of you
2:02
Speaker 1: and uh surprise, but welcome the opportunity. Now for people
2:07
Speaker 1: who don't know, Um, you have an extensive background in sports.
2:12
Speaker 1: I know from following Twitter. You're big St. Louis Blues guy.
2:16
Speaker 1: Uh and very happy. Last year two thousand nineteen feels
2:19
Speaker 1: like a long way away. But tell me about your
2:21
Speaker 1: background sort of. How did you get to the point
2:25
Speaker 1: of your position where you are now? Uh? Sure, Well,
2:29
Speaker 1: I grew up on the the Illinois side of of St. Louis.
2:32
Speaker 1: You know, we're the Mississippi River splits Missouri and Illinois.
2:36
Speaker 1: And I was I grew up about ten miles away
2:39
Speaker 1: from the Arch, so had the you know, the feeling
2:42
Speaker 1: of I'm I'm very much an Illinois guy, if you will,
2:46
Speaker 1: but of St. Louis. And and I went to college
2:49
Speaker 1: at the Eastern Illinois University, which is you know, happy
2:52
Speaker 1: to say is the home of Tony Romo, Shan Peyton,
2:55
Speaker 1: Jimmy Garoppola. We've had a really good track track record
2:59
Speaker 1: football there. Uh, not so much maybe in journalism, which
3:02
Speaker 1: is what I studied there, but uh uh and then
3:05
Speaker 1: I was a newspaper guy for for ten years, uh,
3:09
Speaker 1: mostly in the St. Louis well, definitely the St. Lois
3:11
Speaker 1: Markham suburban newspapers, the suburban chain a short a short
3:16
Speaker 1: period with the St. Louis son uh, mostly doing a
3:19
Speaker 1: contract work for them in high school sports and college sports. Uh.
3:24
Speaker 1: And then from there went to uh Fleshman Hillard, where
3:28
Speaker 1: I was assigned uh this Anheuser Busch sports marketing work
3:35
Speaker 1: and ultimately met Mark Lamping, who was at Annheuser Busch
3:39
Speaker 1: at the time. UH. He was running sports marketing at
3:42
Speaker 1: Annaheuser Busch Uh and Uh, I was there for about
3:47
Speaker 1: four or five years or so at Fleshman Hillard and
3:49
Speaker 1: then you mentioned the Blues. The Blues were my lifelong
3:52
Speaker 1: love growing up. Um. I love the Cardinals, love the
3:56
Speaker 1: football Cardinals, the Big Red now the Arizona Cardinals. But
4:00
Speaker 1: the Blues were something special to me, and Uh, they
4:03
Speaker 1: learned me over there for eight years to to run
4:06
Speaker 1: you know, I was a senior VP of marketing communication
4:08
Speaker 1: with the Blues. I loved it, but we had a
4:12
Speaker 1: lockout season that literally wiped out the entire two thousand four,
4:16
Speaker 1: two thousand and five season. Right. Uh return to Fleshman
4:20
Speaker 1: Hillard to to launch our sports practice. And here I
4:23
Speaker 1: am now fifteen years later, very privileged, and I've got
4:27
Speaker 1: great clients around the world. And shod Mark the Jags,
4:31
Speaker 1: they're they're part of that family. So we started off
4:35
Speaker 1: with the same path to Jim. I was an ink
4:38
Speaker 1: stained wretch as well, and then you took the smart
4:41
Speaker 1: path getting out of it. I stayed in it. So
4:45
Speaker 1: thus the separation in our in our world. So, UM,
4:50
Speaker 1: tell me about how you met and how you got
4:55
Speaker 1: with shod Con because it's it's it's an intriguing story.
4:59
Speaker 1: They really involves Jacksonville in a way. Just take me
5:02
Speaker 1: sort of through that timeline if you will. Well, first, UM,
5:09
Speaker 1: you know, my my experience with Jacksonville actually predate shot
5:12
Speaker 1: UM back in U near the early nineties. St. Louis was, um,
5:17
Speaker 1: you know, one of the candidates for expansion after the
5:19
Speaker 1: after the Cardinals left for Phoenix and UH first quarter
5:24
Speaker 1: of believe it was UM we were one of the
5:28
Speaker 1: front runners, if not the front runner, for an expansion team.
5:31
Speaker 1: And Fleshman Hillard uh was one of a number of
5:34
Speaker 1: agencies that was working, you know, to bring the NFL
5:36
Speaker 1: back to St. Louis. UM and I you know the story, Well,
5:40
Speaker 1: obviously they're in Jacksonville. Uh, you know, Charlotte or the
5:44
Speaker 1: Carolina Panthers got the first uh the first uh you know,
5:49
Speaker 1: expansion spot, and then it came down to St. Louis
5:52
Speaker 1: and Jacksonville. And I think I think it's fair to
5:54
Speaker 1: say that the league was trying to give St. Louis
5:56
Speaker 1: every every opportunity to get its act together, but knowing
6:00
Speaker 1: that Jacksonville had a really really strong uh you know, bid,
6:04
Speaker 1: the league was in a good spot. And but I'll
6:07
Speaker 1: be honest, you know, I thought that we had it,
6:10
Speaker 1: and I'll never forget the day. Um when you know,
6:14
Speaker 1: back then there wasn't you know, the connectivity that we
6:17
Speaker 1: have today. So it was literally a word of mouth.
6:19
Speaker 1: We started hearing on the floor, uh you know, just
6:23
Speaker 1: the word Jacksonville, and it was just like Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Like,
6:26
Speaker 1: oh no, you know, they must have gotten it. And
6:29
Speaker 1: we all ran to our to the window offices which
6:32
Speaker 1: could get a radio and then listen to camel Wax
6:34
Speaker 1: and the music come out that Jacksonville had been awarded
6:38
Speaker 1: the uh the second expansion uh spot. And we were,
6:44
Speaker 1: you know, dumbfounded, and that first of all, it was
6:46
Speaker 1: an earned win for Jacksonvill. There's no question about that.
6:49
Speaker 1: I've learned that even more so since I've gotten close
6:51
Speaker 1: to Jacksonville. Uh, your your your bid was unbelievable. Um.
6:56
Speaker 1: I probably didn't understand quite that much at the time,
6:59
Speaker 1: you know, being the same lame and but no question,
7:03
Speaker 1: Mr Weaver and everybody there is, the city officials in
7:07
Speaker 1: the community just did an amazing job. Again I didn't
7:10
Speaker 1: probably fully appreciate at the time. Um, you know, we
7:14
Speaker 1: bring the rams from Los Angeles to St. Louis and
7:17
Speaker 1: then the Jaguars launched. It's just like everything worked out
7:20
Speaker 1: for a reason, or it seems so at the time. Uh,
7:23
Speaker 1: and now here I am. You know, however, many years later,
7:26
Speaker 1: twenty five years later, I suppose and the Jacksonville Jaguars
7:30
Speaker 1: are my NFL team if you will, that there are
7:32
Speaker 1: a client, but they are also a team I'm very
7:34
Speaker 1: passionate about personally. It's just funny how you know life works. Uh,
7:39
Speaker 1: it really is. Jacksonville, you know, just stole just just
7:43
Speaker 1: droves take in my heart. And then of course and
7:47
Speaker 1: then you know, in two thousand, it looked as though
7:51
Speaker 1: our Rams and the Jacksonville Jaguars are going to play
7:54
Speaker 1: in the Super Bowl and I was, you know, thinking, wow,
7:58
Speaker 1: isn't this is gonna be something? You know that that
8:00
Speaker 1: you know it was it was Jacksonville and St. Louis back.
8:03
Speaker 1: Who would have thought, you know, and it lands to
8:06
Speaker 1: two thousands to be, you know, a St. Louis team
8:09
Speaker 1: and the Jacksonville team playing for the Super Bowl and
8:12
Speaker 1: didn't happen for the Jacks unfortunately. And we had a
8:14
Speaker 1: great memory obviously with the creatial in turf. So anyway
8:17
Speaker 1: to this all happened before I met shot and then
8:24
Speaker 1: Georgia Frontier, the owner of the RAMS, during that run,
8:29
Speaker 1: she passes and then the RAMS situation opens up and
8:34
Speaker 1: gets squirrelly for lack of a better word. Uh, but
8:38
Speaker 1: how did that sort of pave the way for you
8:41
Speaker 1: to become connected with Shot? Um? So it's the when
8:46
Speaker 1: I returned to Fleshman Hillard in two thousand and five
8:50
Speaker 1: for for for a period of time, the all three
8:52
Speaker 1: local sports teams were a client, and I had to
8:55
Speaker 1: make sure that everybody was comfortable with that. So the
8:57
Speaker 1: Rams were a client. So this is two thousand and
9:00
Speaker 1: five and at the time there, you know, the luster
9:03
Speaker 1: of the great show and turf had had pretty much
9:05
Speaker 1: worn off UM and the team started to struggle a
9:09
Speaker 1: little bit, and that was Mike Martz was kind of uh,
9:13
Speaker 1: you know, there was some some strife to to to
9:16
Speaker 1: say in the least, and so I tried to to help,
9:21
Speaker 1: you know, the team with with a little bit of that,
9:23
Speaker 1: and uh uh stayed with the team and the Rams
9:26
Speaker 1: were good client for us. And then Georgia passed away, uh,
9:30
Speaker 1: and I got to know her children, Chip and Lucia,
9:34
Speaker 1: Chip Rosen Blue, Lucia Rodriguez. Uh, who were the you know,
9:39
Speaker 1: the heir apparents to to keeping the Rams, you know
9:42
Speaker 1: or owning the Rams, I should say. And she passed
9:46
Speaker 1: away and so Chip rely took well, both Chip and
9:50
Speaker 1: Lucia took a real day to day you know interest
9:53
Speaker 1: in the Rams. And it was unclear initially whether they
9:56
Speaker 1: were going to keep the Rams you know is owning
9:59
Speaker 1: the Rams that is, or sell them. Uh. They ultimately
10:03
Speaker 1: determined that they wanted to sell and uh uh I
10:08
Speaker 1: had another client that was interested in buying the Rams,
10:11
Speaker 1: so that put me in a little bit of a conflict.
10:12
Speaker 1: So I kind of had to separate just a bit,
10:15
Speaker 1: uh during that process that the Rams were for sale, uh,
10:19
Speaker 1: because I really couldn't represent the team and and and
10:21
Speaker 1: one of the bidding parties, if you will, um and uh.
10:27
Speaker 1: So one morning in February of two thousand and ten,
10:30
Speaker 1: I woke up to the morning news, and kudos to
10:34
Speaker 1: the Rams and everybody involved the time because they kept
10:36
Speaker 1: everything super insulated and confidential. I had no inkling that
10:41
Speaker 1: I would be looking at my screen that morning and
10:44
Speaker 1: seeing a picture of a man I never heard of
10:46
Speaker 1: before my life. Shot con is the prospective new owner
10:49
Speaker 1: of the St. Louis rams and um, I was getting
10:53
Speaker 1: texts and calls from everyone in St. Louis and media
10:56
Speaker 1: and otherwise, what do you know about this guy that's
10:58
Speaker 1: not your guy that you were represent learning you must
11:00
Speaker 1: be crushed and which I was. And because I thought
11:04
Speaker 1: my client wasn't going to uh be it wasn't the choice. Uh.
11:11
Speaker 1: And I didn't know anything about Shot con Uh. So
11:15
Speaker 1: I went to the office that morning, uh, a little
11:18
Speaker 1: bummed out to be fair, and uh there was a
11:21
Speaker 1: message already waiting for me on my land line, which
11:24
Speaker 1: rare rarely is used anymore. And what is that I
11:29
Speaker 1: missed it? Actually I really do and the fax machine
11:31
Speaker 1: and I'm an old school guy. And uh. But it
11:36
Speaker 1: was shots attorney, who who had had been also working
11:43
Speaker 1: with Mark Lamping, who left St. Louis earlier a few
11:47
Speaker 1: years earlier to h to manage the construction and conception
11:52
Speaker 1: Medlife Stadium in the in the Midowlands. And so SHOT's
11:55
Speaker 1: attorney was representing Mark in New York and Shot uh,
12:00
Speaker 1: and they asked if there was someone in St. Louis
12:02
Speaker 1: that can help Shot along. So Mark says, well, you know,
12:04
Speaker 1: you need to talk to this guy and it was me.
12:06
Speaker 1: So just very brief period, I was I was sort
12:09
Speaker 1: of you know, out of sorts because I was thought
12:11
Speaker 1: it would be kind of cool if my client had
12:13
Speaker 1: gotten the opportunity to to to own the Rams and UH,
12:17
Speaker 1: so I Shot asked if I would be interested in
12:20
Speaker 1: helping him, and I cleared it with my client and
12:23
Speaker 1: that client said, yeah, that's great. You know, it wasn't
12:26
Speaker 1: meant for me, so you know, please proceeded. And so
12:30
Speaker 1: that was early two thousand and ten, and I got
12:33
Speaker 1: to know Shot extremely well for a short period of
12:36
Speaker 1: time because there was a sixty day window in which
12:40
Speaker 1: Stan Cronky, who of the Rams, this was a majority
12:43
Speaker 1: purchase that that Shot he wasn't that. The offer wasn't
12:48
Speaker 1: to buy all uh, it was to buy the majority
12:52
Speaker 1: uh of the Rams, which was and Stan Cronkie at
12:56
Speaker 1: the time had forty and had the options and to
13:00
Speaker 1: match whatever another buyer would put forward. Um, he had
13:05
Speaker 1: sixty days to do that. And at the time everyone
13:09
Speaker 1: felt that that was really impossible for him to do
13:12
Speaker 1: because there were some NFL policies at the time that
13:15
Speaker 1: prohibited what they call a cross ownership. And I'm not
13:18
Speaker 1: sure that's really in play anymore. But at the time
13:20
Speaker 1: it would appear that he would have wouldn't have qualified
13:23
Speaker 1: to be the percent owner of St. Lois Rams. So
13:26
Speaker 1: everyone just thought it was just a matter of protocol
13:29
Speaker 1: and procedure and that Shot would get the sixty and
13:32
Speaker 1: stand cronkity to keep his forty or else maybe sell
13:35
Speaker 1: his fort tow shot. But after sixty days he U
13:39
Speaker 1: he uh matched And so now it was in front
13:43
Speaker 1: of the league to deliberate as to what to do,
13:46
Speaker 1: and uh the uh you know that what happened was
13:51
Speaker 1: the league h approved Mr Cronky is owner of the Rams.
13:55
Speaker 1: And at the time that was a loss for Shot,
13:58
Speaker 1: you know, And yeah I did. At the time, I
14:01
Speaker 1: didn't know if i'd see him again, work with him again.
14:03
Speaker 1: I didn't know if this was just a one one
14:05
Speaker 1: swing at the you know, at the plate, or if
14:08
Speaker 1: he was you know so. But it was a great
14:10
Speaker 1: experience all the same because I got to know him,
14:14
Speaker 1: um and it was really didn't get to know him
14:17
Speaker 1: because he didn't want to be a presumptive like taking
14:19
Speaker 1: a victory lap like I'm here to own the Rams
14:22
Speaker 1: and do a lot of interviews and all that. We
14:23
Speaker 1: we actually played that right, you know, just to kind
14:25
Speaker 1: of lay low until he was approved. No different than
14:28
Speaker 1: we did. And when when he was introducing Jacksonville, we
14:32
Speaker 1: introduced him in November of that year and he didn't
14:35
Speaker 1: appear in Jacksonville for another month. Um uh so, but
14:39
Speaker 1: it was a great experience and and uh it ended
14:42
Speaker 1: up forging a relationship that I had cherished to this day.
14:45
Speaker 1: You think for people listening, the reason I wanted Jim
14:49
Speaker 1: to talk extensively about St. Louis and how he met Shot.
14:55
Speaker 1: The crux of what we're going to talk about today
14:58
Speaker 1: is Jim knows Shod and Mark and sort of how
15:02
Speaker 1: they tick and what they feel about Jacksonville and Jim,
15:07
Speaker 1: I know when we've talked over the years, your impressions
15:11
Speaker 1: of Shod when he bought the Jaguars, which is when
15:16
Speaker 1: you came back into play. Uh, there's a real passion
15:21
Speaker 1: on his part for the city and the organization, if
15:26
Speaker 1: you will that. I'm not sure fans really grasped that much. Uh,
15:31
Speaker 1: you know you were with him during this process. I
15:35
Speaker 1: met you, I think the same day I met Shod,
15:38
Speaker 1: which I believe was in Dallas, when he received the
15:42
Speaker 1: team and the excitement level for or not received the team,
15:48
Speaker 1: but a shelled out all the money for the team.
15:51
Speaker 1: But just tell me about his passion for the city,
16:00
Speaker 1: which I think some people can't quite get their heads
16:03
Speaker 1: around even to this day. Well it's uh, it's certainly genuine,
16:09
Speaker 1: um um. In fact, well, I'll tell a quick story
16:15
Speaker 1: about sure. When when when? When? Um? When? When his
16:20
Speaker 1: attorney called me, I guess it was October of two
16:23
Speaker 1: thousand and eleven. I think I checked in with Shot twice,
16:28
Speaker 1: maybe after after he lost his opportunity with the Rams,
16:33
Speaker 1: So about a years, year, fourteen months past or whatever.
16:36
Speaker 1: I probably email him once or twice, And believe me,
16:39
Speaker 1: I wanted to do it more often, but I didn't
16:40
Speaker 1: want to past room. You know. Um uh, but he said,
16:44
Speaker 1: you know, I'm always looking. You know, I'm glad you're
16:47
Speaker 1: staying in touch and all that. But any rate, his
16:50
Speaker 1: attorney called me and said, you know, what's your plate
16:52
Speaker 1: look like? How much you have some capacity here at
16:56
Speaker 1: the end of the year because Shot has something that's
16:59
Speaker 1: it's gonna happen and he can use your help. And
17:03
Speaker 1: I I said, oh, you know, I love the guy.
17:06
Speaker 1: I said, you know, please bring me on whatever it is.
17:09
Speaker 1: And and um, I said, and if it's if it's
17:14
Speaker 1: not something I can like really personally like manage day
17:17
Speaker 1: to day or whatever. We have offices throughout the United States,
17:21
Speaker 1: which we do. Fleshman's got I don't know, thirty offices
17:23
Speaker 1: I guess around the United States and eighty around the
17:26
Speaker 1: world and so on. So I said, we'll be able
17:28
Speaker 1: to take care of Mr Khan and he said, well,
17:31
Speaker 1: you probably won't have an office where he's looking. And
17:34
Speaker 1: I didn't know if he was looking at the NFL,
17:37
Speaker 1: the NBA or whatever, and he mentioned Jacksonville. And I
17:40
Speaker 1: could have been more surprised. I don't know why. I
17:42
Speaker 1: was surprised because I didn't know what to expect when
17:43
Speaker 1: I got the phone call. But it's just like, wow,
17:46
Speaker 1: you know the jackson Jaguars and um and and he said,
17:51
Speaker 1: and the attorney at the time, I forget exactly his
17:55
Speaker 1: exact words goes, and he loves it. He loves Jacksonville.
17:58
Speaker 1: He's had some experiences there from his huddle, uh you know,
18:02
Speaker 1: his auto business, and and he just loves everything about it.
18:06
Speaker 1: It's a really good fit for him. Don't don't take offense,
18:08
Speaker 1: you know, but it's probably a better fit for him
18:10
Speaker 1: than St. Louis would have been. And um, and he goes.
18:15
Speaker 1: You know, his enthusiasm is really off the charts, you know,
18:18
Speaker 1: for for not only the opportunity to to to see
18:21
Speaker 1: his dream come through, to be one of a very
18:24
Speaker 1: few people in the world to own an NFL team,
18:26
Speaker 1: But it was in Jacksonville. It was in Jacksonville. So
18:29
Speaker 1: I got back on the phone shot and you know,
18:31
Speaker 1: he gave me us a little bit of his background
18:32
Speaker 1: in Jacksonville, and uh, I don't what in miss legion.
18:36
Speaker 1: It wasn't like he was spending a ton of time
18:38
Speaker 1: in Jacksonville over his career, but he but he liked
18:41
Speaker 1: Jacksonville and he really liked the opportunity that you know
18:44
Speaker 1: that it was just like, I forget his exact words,
18:47
Speaker 1: and they were his words. You know. It's like, we
18:49
Speaker 1: can't be the world's you know, best kept secret much longer.
18:53
Speaker 1: And it's just unacceptable. You know, we we're gonna do this,
18:55
Speaker 1: We're gonna do that. You know. Um, you can't if
18:58
Speaker 1: he would have purchased the New York Science you know,
19:00
Speaker 1: hypothetically or you know, he wouldn't be able to say, hey,
19:03
Speaker 1: you know what New York isn't uh you know, all
19:06
Speaker 1: it can be or whatever, you know, but but Jacksonville
19:08
Speaker 1: was that kind of city, you know. He was just like,
19:10
Speaker 1: you know, that's what he also liked about it. It
19:12
Speaker 1: was just, you know, the ceiling was was for all things,
19:17
Speaker 1: was so high and and and there was the opportunity
19:20
Speaker 1: for him to play a role in that. So um
19:23
Speaker 1: got to got to start working with him again. And
19:26
Speaker 1: we went to New York for the Finance Committee meeting
19:29
Speaker 1: where he was a career and uh, he asked me
19:32
Speaker 1: to come along because the number of I no, I
19:35
Speaker 1: don't think you were there, John, but there was a
19:36
Speaker 1: number of Jacksonville media that were encouraged not to show
19:39
Speaker 1: up because there was nothing to see and cover not
19:41
Speaker 1: but nonetheless they did. And I told Shot, I said,
19:44
Speaker 1: you know what, it's it's good that we we meet
19:47
Speaker 1: with them because you're gonna be living with these reporters
19:50
Speaker 1: and you know, for the rest of your lives and
19:52
Speaker 1: and uh it's and they're traveling along way, we must
19:55
Speaker 1: give them some time and all that sort of thing.
19:56
Speaker 1: And I felt like I had to talk him into
19:58
Speaker 1: and he's like, no, this is great, you know, and
20:00
Speaker 1: he wanted to, uh, you know, learned as much from
20:04
Speaker 1: them as he was giving, you know. And and I
20:07
Speaker 1: was like, well, this is really cool. You know. He
20:09
Speaker 1: you could just tell he was he was already making
20:11
Speaker 1: a connection with Jackson before he really really uh uh
20:15
Speaker 1: set foot uh. And then it was the following week
20:18
Speaker 1: when I met you John that uh, you know, he
20:20
Speaker 1: was approved. And then the next night was a Thursday
20:25
Speaker 1: night game in Atlanta. Yeah, and I met him down there.
20:29
Speaker 1: We we went to the game with the Weavers. We
20:33
Speaker 1: sat in the booth or the box of the Weavers,
20:36
Speaker 1: you if you recalled it. It was just a terrible game.
20:42
Speaker 1: I had a tough night, but there was still like
20:44
Speaker 1: the sense of you know joy, you know. Uh, I
20:49
Speaker 1: don't know, I can't speak for how how Wayne and
20:51
Speaker 1: Delora's felt. It had to be certainly bitter sweet. And
20:53
Speaker 1: you know, the day after after the the approval, uh,
20:56
Speaker 1: the team really laid an egg that night. But nonetheless
20:59
Speaker 1: there was this sense of renewal and an opportunity and
21:03
Speaker 1: all that. And before I'll stop talking to a minute,
21:07
Speaker 1: but the one thing that I'll never forget is we
21:10
Speaker 1: flew in that night. Then it was very very late,
21:13
Speaker 1: um uh, because the game ended at like eleven o'clock
21:18
Speaker 1: or something like that, some crazy and then we flew
21:21
Speaker 1: from from Jacksonville, I'm sorry, from Atlanta to Jacksonville. I
21:25
Speaker 1: landed and cecil it you know, some really bad hour.
21:29
Speaker 1: But we flew over downtown Jacksonville and before we landed,
21:33
Speaker 1: and maybe that's where you have to go anyway, because
21:35
Speaker 1: I am not gonna lie it on fly privately very
21:38
Speaker 1: often from Atlanta Jacksonville. But it was it was just
21:43
Speaker 1: it was just beautiful downtown, uh, you know, with the
21:47
Speaker 1: with the with the lights reflecting off the river and
21:51
Speaker 1: the colors on the on on the bridges and and
21:54
Speaker 1: Shod's wife and was was with us, and she's like, oh,
21:57
Speaker 1: this is what a beautiful city. And I was thinking
21:59
Speaker 1: to say think, I'm like, yeah, you know this is
22:02
Speaker 1: this is just amazing, you know, And and I just
22:05
Speaker 1: kind of looked at it like I told you so. Um.
22:09
Speaker 1: And that's really how he sees it, isn't. I mean
22:11
Speaker 1: that we talked a little bit before this. There's a
22:15
Speaker 1: love and a connection he has for this that I
22:19
Speaker 1: think it's hard sometimes like for me as a writer
22:22
Speaker 1: when I say it's like, uh, you're just saying that
22:24
Speaker 1: because you worked for the team John. But again, you've
22:27
Speaker 1: known the man for nine years, and so he sort
22:29
Speaker 1: of know how to makes some tick. That's a real
22:31
Speaker 1: thing for him. It is, it is and and uh,
22:36
Speaker 1: you know, like the last year or so because of
22:38
Speaker 1: COVID and everything, and obviously nobody I just told you
22:40
Speaker 1: I haven't been down there myself at all. But he
22:43
Speaker 1: likes to go out to dinner. I'm sure that a
22:46
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of your listeners have probably seen him, uh,
22:50
Speaker 1: you know out. He He's not somebody who you know,
22:55
Speaker 1: I really want to be private tonight. He loves to
22:58
Speaker 1: go out and be in Jacksonville, and he loves he
23:01
Speaker 1: loves it being part of the process whatever, whether that's business,
23:04
Speaker 1: whether that's uh, you know, the political process. You know,
23:07
Speaker 1: he's a player, uh, and he's active, and he's committed
23:11
Speaker 1: and invested because he feels that, you know, Jacksonville, well,
23:15
Speaker 1: he doesn't feel that. He knows that Jacksonville is part
23:18
Speaker 1: of his DNA for the rest of his life. You know,
23:20
Speaker 1: he's this is this is a place that in two
23:24
Speaker 1: thousand and eleven, uh, you know, became one with him,
23:29
Speaker 1: okay um. And so he has a huge interest and
23:34
Speaker 1: passion for all things Jacksonville, whether it's the people, whether
23:37
Speaker 1: it's the business sector, whether it's the Jaguars. And he's
23:41
Speaker 1: an ambitious guy, you know, so with that comes you know,
23:45
Speaker 1: he sees Jacksonville, and he sees downtown, and he sees
23:48
Speaker 1: you know, and I'm talking a little bit out of
23:50
Speaker 1: the football space because we can all agree that that's
23:53
Speaker 1: been disappointing, you know, but everything around the football which
23:58
Speaker 1: is in his mind has in important you know, are
24:01
Speaker 1: very important certainly, um he cares a lot about and
24:05
Speaker 1: he he wants it to be. He wants jackson to
24:08
Speaker 1: be the best of camping. And let's not to say
24:10
Speaker 1: that it doesn't have just you know, just great upside already.
24:14
Speaker 1: But he's an ambitious, forward thinking, progressive person guy who
24:21
Speaker 1: you know, Jacksonville to him is is a place that
24:25
Speaker 1: that can sort of mirror I think, who he is
24:28
Speaker 1: and um uh, you know, be better, you know, and
24:32
Speaker 1: and and and really reach it's it's it's potential, and
24:36
Speaker 1: I think downtown is probably the the focus of those
24:40
Speaker 1: of his vision in that respect. I want to dig
24:42
Speaker 1: into a little bit of that a little bit more
24:44
Speaker 1: in a minute, but sort of keeping with the timeflow
24:48
Speaker 1: of our conversation. Tell me about that first year a
24:52
Speaker 1: little bit, um, as Shods sort of learned the NFL
24:57
Speaker 1: along with you that two thousand eleven in the early
25:00
Speaker 1: I guess, the Malarkey Smith era until he sort of
25:04
Speaker 1: got his feet wet about being with him as he
25:07
Speaker 1: sort of learned in the NFL. Well, Um, I'm gonna
25:10
Speaker 1: go back a little bit to the to the to
25:13
Speaker 1: the to the Finance committee meeting in New York prior
25:18
Speaker 1: to his first season when he was approved by the
25:19
Speaker 1: Finance Commitee, which was very very important. Um, and when uh,
25:25
Speaker 1: we were walking to the NFL offices, and again, I
25:31
Speaker 1: hadn't spent a lot of time with Shot at that
25:33
Speaker 1: point in my life and my career, more than most,
25:36
Speaker 1: you know, but but not much, so I didn't know
25:39
Speaker 1: exactly when was the right time to say, hey, you
25:41
Speaker 1: know what, from what I could see of your front office,
25:44
Speaker 1: and it's early, I really haven't met anyone yet outside
25:47
Speaker 1: of Dan Edwards, who was outstanding. But at the time
25:49
Speaker 1: I really had, I hadn't met anyone. I don't think
25:51
Speaker 1: I hadn't met anyone else. I said, it's it's it's
25:54
Speaker 1: a front office that I think probably can use a spark.
25:57
Speaker 1: Uh and there seems to be a little bit of
25:58
Speaker 1: a malaise and and and I've got somebody I think
26:01
Speaker 1: you ought to talk to you. It was Mark Lamping.
26:03
Speaker 1: And I've gotten to work with Mark back nearly nineties
26:06
Speaker 1: and stuff, and I was thinking, well, I don't know
26:07
Speaker 1: if that's a risk for me to like, you know, hey,
26:10
Speaker 1: you know. He shocked and said, hey, you know what,
26:11
Speaker 1: I'm hiring you for one thing and one thing you
26:13
Speaker 1: and I don't need you know, uh, you know, personality council.
26:19
Speaker 1: But but but he he listened, and so we got
26:22
Speaker 1: through the closed on the Jaguars and and uh January
26:26
Speaker 1: of two thousand and twelve. Uh and I think around
26:29
Speaker 1: that time he did me a favor and he interviewed Mark.
26:34
Speaker 1: But I told him, I said, I'm doing you a favor,
26:37
Speaker 1: trust me on this. Uh. So Mark was hired I
26:40
Speaker 1: think in February. Uh and um he started then. And
26:45
Speaker 1: that first year, Um, you know, uh, you know, look Mark,
26:52
Speaker 1: Mark has done more in sports and than I'll ever know.
26:55
Speaker 1: So I'm sure he was as influential and as close
26:58
Speaker 1: to him as I would have ever been during that
27:00
Speaker 1: first year. But that first year was just so magical
27:03
Speaker 1: from from a from a communications standpoint, because shod story, um,
27:09
Speaker 1: it was always the same story. You know, where he
27:12
Speaker 1: came from, how he got to the United States, his
27:16
Speaker 1: his vision, his his his uh you know that we
27:20
Speaker 1: all know by now the you know, the the bumper
27:23
Speaker 1: that's on all of our vehicles today. You know his
27:26
Speaker 1: Um it's it's an amazing story. And that was always
27:29
Speaker 1: his story. But it was an untold story because he
27:33
Speaker 1: was until he bought the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was an
27:39
Speaker 1: engineer out of the University of Illinois who stayed in
27:44
Speaker 1: Urbana and Champagne in the middle of the United States.
27:47
Speaker 1: Uh and and ran flexing gate. And his his magical
27:52
Speaker 1: story was hadn't really been told. So now he's he's
27:57
Speaker 1: he's the first minority owner of the NFL. Everybody wants
28:01
Speaker 1: to talk to him. Frankly, you know, I wanted people
28:04
Speaker 1: to talk to him because when I first got to
28:06
Speaker 1: know him, I said, I said, Shod, you've got to
28:08
Speaker 1: two paths you can choose here. I said, one is
28:11
Speaker 1: you can be uh behind the scenes, uh sort of withdrawn.
28:17
Speaker 1: It's worked for a lot of NFL owners uh and
28:20
Speaker 1: and and that doesn't make them bad owners or or
28:23
Speaker 1: distant or or detached or absentee. They just aren't out there.
28:28
Speaker 1: And that's okay, it's not really who he is. Well,
28:31
Speaker 1: I don't know if it might have been who he
28:33
Speaker 1: was prior to Jacksonville Bye bye, you know, because in fact,
28:39
Speaker 1: I think it actually kind of was who he was
28:41
Speaker 1: because his flexicate never uh now, he's he's always had
28:44
Speaker 1: the energy and he's always had, you know, the passion
28:47
Speaker 1: for it, for the automotive industry and anything in his life.
28:50
Speaker 1: He goes at it hard, but not noisy, you know,
28:53
Speaker 1: it's it's it's he just he just has, you know,
28:56
Speaker 1: an energy about him that is infectious sense, very real,
29:00
Speaker 1: and you know it once you've experienced it personally. But
29:04
Speaker 1: if you're not, if you're in the middle of the
29:06
Speaker 1: United States and Illinois and you're running a h An
29:09
Speaker 1: automotive you know company, uh from there, you're not well
29:13
Speaker 1: known by any stretch. And I think he didn't mind that.
29:17
Speaker 1: But then I said, you could. You can. You could
29:19
Speaker 1: be worth two billion and still be under the radar,
29:23
Speaker 1: which you can. That's that's I don't know that personally,
29:27
Speaker 1: but but but but yeah, you can't, I said. The
29:30
Speaker 1: other path you can take. I said, you, your story
29:34
Speaker 1: is really inspiring and you you you can make an
29:38
Speaker 1: impact on lives. Uh. That that beyond Jacksonville, but in
29:43
Speaker 1: particular in Jacksonville where there might be some like what
29:47
Speaker 1: was this mean for a football team or what was
29:49
Speaker 1: this mean for? Uh, you know, our city and everything else. Um,
29:54
Speaker 1: they need to get to know you. And you are
29:57
Speaker 1: you bring life to everything you're you know, you're you're
30:00
Speaker 1: involved in all that. Really I would if I were you, um,
30:04
Speaker 1: consider sharing your story and and and uh and he
30:09
Speaker 1: was good with that. So that first year, uh, while
30:14
Speaker 1: he was getting you know, acclimated to running an NFL
30:16
Speaker 1: franchise and hiring you know, Mark and Mark hiring a
30:20
Speaker 1: front office and so on, he was also uh we
30:24
Speaker 1: you know, we did a cover story win Forbes. Which
30:27
Speaker 1: was the title of that story was the New Face
30:31
Speaker 1: of the American Dream, um, which was a wonderfully written
30:35
Speaker 1: story by Brian Salmon that I think still stands up today.
30:38
Speaker 1: And we did sixteen minutes. Uh. And then and we
30:42
Speaker 1: went to we went to Pakistan and I went with
30:45
Speaker 1: him and we saw where he grew up and and um,
30:50
Speaker 1: so that first year was was special. It really was.
30:55
Speaker 1: And Uh, sadly, you know, the the football team didn't
30:59
Speaker 1: play well that year, but that was also um a lesson, right.
31:05
Speaker 1: You know, he he kept some people around, he hired
31:08
Speaker 1: a head coach. He he relied on advisors and people
31:13
Speaker 1: in the game to help him with with that head
31:17
Speaker 1: coach search. And and it didn't work out. And he
31:20
Speaker 1: made he made a pretty bold, fast decision, uh you know,
31:24
Speaker 1: to to cut the chord with with Jean Smith and
31:28
Speaker 1: Mike mclarkey. And at the end of twelve, yeah, I
31:31
Speaker 1: after one year and uh, um you know, and again
31:35
Speaker 1: you know it's still you know, those great results are
31:38
Speaker 1: still elusive for Shot and all of us. But um,
31:42
Speaker 1: you know, he's his commitment and his passion for forgetting
31:46
Speaker 1: getting it right is no no different than it was
31:48
Speaker 1: when he came in to Checksambo in two thousand eleven.
31:51
Speaker 1: You know, you spend a lot of time with Shot
31:54
Speaker 1: and there's a perception, I think because the team has
31:58
Speaker 1: not done well really except for two thousand and seventeen.
32:02
Speaker 1: You know, somehow there's a perception that football isn't as
32:08
Speaker 1: important as business. And it it baffles me because every
32:13
Speaker 1: conversation I've ever had with Shot, that's never the impression,
32:17
Speaker 1: but you spend more time with him. It it kills
32:21
Speaker 1: him to lose, does it not? It does it? It does? Sean,
32:29
Speaker 1: I would say, I think he I know, he handles
32:33
Speaker 1: as well. Um, he's he doesn't have a temper. He
32:37
Speaker 1: doesn't He's not explosive. Um, he's not going to make
32:42
Speaker 1: someone you know, pay for the team's you know, defeat
32:46
Speaker 1: or whatever by barking at someone on the way out
32:49
Speaker 1: or whatever. He's just not that kind of pression, you know. Um,
32:53
Speaker 1: but he it gnaws at him and he's unhappy. And
32:57
Speaker 1: there are times where you know, I can I feel it,
33:02
Speaker 1: I see it. I'll just say any notion that he
33:05
Speaker 1: doesn't care whatever is way off, because, uh, everything he's
33:12
Speaker 1: done in his life and his career has has been
33:15
Speaker 1: a win. Um. And this will be to um. It's
33:21
Speaker 1: just but it's it's been you know, the journey on
33:24
Speaker 1: the field to this point is has has challenges, There's
33:27
Speaker 1: no question about it. But if if if if if
33:30
Speaker 1: if fans or anyone sort of would like to see
33:33
Speaker 1: him kind of like just you know, go off after
33:36
Speaker 1: after you know, after a certain defeat or whatever, that's
33:39
Speaker 1: probably not gonna happen. Um. But if they want to
33:43
Speaker 1: know whether he cares uh and and and is concerned
33:48
Speaker 1: and is committed. I can assure you have all that,
33:52
Speaker 1: there's no doubt. Yeah, I've seen him after wins and losses.
33:56
Speaker 1: I have not sat with him the way that you have.
33:59
Speaker 1: But again, it it always baffles me, I would say,
34:03
Speaker 1: makes me laugh, except it's you know when people say
34:07
Speaker 1: that that doesn't matter to him, because I've seen the
34:11
Speaker 1: emotion and it's it's a real thing. And again, most
34:16
Speaker 1: people don't get a chance to watch games with him.
34:19
Speaker 1: I'm sure you have, and it's a real thing. So well,
34:23
Speaker 1: so it's funny about watching games with him. I, um, well,
34:27
Speaker 1: there's two there's two experiences watching a game, which one
34:31
Speaker 1: it's on the road and it's at home. Okay, oh yeah,
34:35
Speaker 1: on the road. Um, he will still try to load
34:39
Speaker 1: up his suite with maybe local people that like, like
34:44
Speaker 1: from from his Flexing Gate automotive company, that maybe are
34:47
Speaker 1: work in that area, right like Troy or Chicago or
34:51
Speaker 1: or in Texas or whatever. Uh, you know, he likes
34:55
Speaker 1: to have guests in the sweeping. Normally on the road
34:57
Speaker 1: there's there's some elbow room and and you can actually
35:01
Speaker 1: you know, maybe have more conversations with him, and I
35:03
Speaker 1: think he probably watches the game a little closer you know,
35:07
Speaker 1: on the road than at home where uh his he
35:12
Speaker 1: his suite is like an open house, and I think
35:16
Speaker 1: that speaks to lack person he is. You know, he's
35:19
Speaker 1: he has lots of guests in relatives, friends, he his
35:24
Speaker 1: best friends from from the University of Illinois who you know,
35:28
Speaker 1: his fraternity brothers. They will fly up or fly down
35:30
Speaker 1: excuse me for for games. Um. He likes to share
35:34
Speaker 1: his experiences and his his fortune quite frankly with those
35:38
Speaker 1: who are important to him in his life. So the
35:41
Speaker 1: idea that you could sit at a game in Jacksonville
35:44
Speaker 1: and just like like literally hear you know, his thoughts
35:47
Speaker 1: on that last you know, third down call or whatever.
35:50
Speaker 1: It's usually not happening. He's usually shaking someone's hand or
35:54
Speaker 1: having a conversation or or whatever. And I think that's that.
36:00
Speaker 1: You know, he can part analizes really well. I think
36:04
Speaker 1: you know what's important, right, You know, he wants people
36:07
Speaker 1: when they leave t I a bankfield, he wants them
36:10
Speaker 1: to be wants of them are going to be celebrating victory.
36:12
Speaker 1: And to make that really clear. Okay, but he also
36:15
Speaker 1: wants everyone to be happy with the experience, and whether
36:19
Speaker 1: that's you know, with the enhancements that happened over his stewardship,
36:23
Speaker 1: with the you know, the stadium scoreboard, the pools, the
36:27
Speaker 1: party areas and all that, or his guests in his
36:29
Speaker 1: suite and everything else. He wants everyone to leave satisfied
36:33
Speaker 1: and happy and with those experiences. And so I actually
36:37
Speaker 1: prefer if you if you don't mind me saying, I
36:39
Speaker 1: like to watch a game with him on the road
36:40
Speaker 1: because I get to listen to him, you know, you know,
36:43
Speaker 1: his thoughts on on the play calling, on performances and
36:47
Speaker 1: everything else. But either way, it's very special and in
36:50
Speaker 1: both cases he wants to win the opportunities ahead for
36:53
Speaker 1: Jacksonville now, and everybody knows what's going on with a
36:59
Speaker 1: lot J. Conversation with the vision and tell me, uh
37:05
Speaker 1: Jim about his vision, what's going on with a lot
37:09
Speaker 1: J and what the Jaguars see for downtown Jacksonville, because
37:15
Speaker 1: sometimes when things get into sort of back and forth
37:18
Speaker 1: like it's been going on, the big picture gets lost.
37:21
Speaker 1: And you know, the big picture in terms of what
37:23
Speaker 1: they see for this as well as anybody. Yeah, well,
37:28
Speaker 1: the one thing that's been hard to to to to
37:32
Speaker 1: convey and understandably. So this is you know, when when
37:35
Speaker 1: you have a vision of this ambitious and uh there
37:40
Speaker 1: there is a stake from the city and from uh
37:44
Speaker 1: you know, Shots ownership and all that's running. They there's
37:48
Speaker 1: there'll give me some complexities, right and and it's completely
37:51
Speaker 1: fair to to dig into those and understand you know,
37:54
Speaker 1: how this is all going to work out. Um. One
37:58
Speaker 1: thing that unfortunately is has overlooked a lot of times
38:01
Speaker 1: is what that endgame looks like and and and you know,
38:05
Speaker 1: we used the term vision and Shots Shot almost defines
38:09
Speaker 1: that concept. Vision. He has a vision and it's not
38:12
Speaker 1: just for downtown Jacksonville. He has a vision for Flexing Gate,
38:16
Speaker 1: for full and Football Club, for aid W, for for
38:19
Speaker 1: everything that that's in his universe. Um. And I've had
38:23
Speaker 1: the opportunity, uh here in St. Louis, you know, Courtish Companies,
38:28
Speaker 1: uh created a development that actually was initially envisioned, if
38:34
Speaker 1: you will, by Mark Lamping when when he Mark was
38:37
Speaker 1: the president of the Cardinals, and he did a great
38:39
Speaker 1: job not only keeping the old Bush Stadium on life support,
38:43
Speaker 1: but actually renovating it and and enhancing it over time.
38:46
Speaker 1: That people just couldn't imagine that we needed a new stadium,
38:49
Speaker 1: but we did, and and and uh and and Mark
38:53
Speaker 1: led the charge in St. Louis to to to build
38:55
Speaker 1: a new stadium. And then you know the Ballpark Village development,
38:58
Speaker 1: which is courtish and so I have the benefit of
39:03
Speaker 1: seeing what the kind of impact it can make on
39:07
Speaker 1: a downtown in a community. Uh, the people in Kansas
39:11
Speaker 1: City can I've been to the one in Kansas City
39:12
Speaker 1: as well. Uh, power and Light. I believe it's called
39:16
Speaker 1: um and and it is if that's just unfortunately we're
39:21
Speaker 1: not seeing that that that element, that story element, you know,
39:25
Speaker 1: sort of surface you know during this process. And I
39:29
Speaker 1: wish I could, you know, hopefully I can describe what
39:32
Speaker 1: what what's in store for Jacksonville, because that's what Shot
39:35
Speaker 1: wants and that's what certainly Mark wants to is this
39:37
Speaker 1: this can and will be a destination that that I
39:40
Speaker 1: think it's hard to sort of grasp until you have
39:43
Speaker 1: to experience it yourself. Um And in St. Louis, for instance, Uh,
39:50
Speaker 1: now there's eighty one baseball games, right, you know that
39:53
Speaker 1: still leaves a big hunk of of of the year.
39:56
Speaker 1: Like you know, you're wondering well, you know what happens
39:59
Speaker 1: was under years their days and if you take a
40:00
Speaker 1: look at the football season, it's even more right. So
40:03
Speaker 1: it's it's fair to wonder, like what does it mean
40:06
Speaker 1: like you know day to day. Well, what I didn't
40:09
Speaker 1: anticipate is the I guess you called the programming or
40:13
Speaker 1: how how how Ballpark Village in St. Louis, for instance,
40:18
Speaker 1: truly comes to life daily nightly, with with events that
40:25
Speaker 1: that draw people downtown that don't live in downtown, they
40:29
Speaker 1: draw them downtown. And now are you know, really serving
40:33
Speaker 1: as the catalyst for people to live downtown because there's
40:36
Speaker 1: this nerve center of activity that I I think we'll
40:40
Speaker 1: look different in Jacksonville because Jacksonville is a different kind
40:43
Speaker 1: of market. But you know, like in St. Louis will
40:46
Speaker 1: have a calm watch parties. That's unfair because these are bigger, okay,
40:52
Speaker 1: but that like you know, around World Cups and when
40:56
Speaker 1: the women's team was winning it's World Cup and and
40:58
Speaker 1: even even when we had the pgh ampionship in you're
41:00
Speaker 1: gonna listen to thousand eighteen, we were we were having
41:03
Speaker 1: huge events at our ball Park Village, our live destination
41:07
Speaker 1: there um for for golf. Now Uh, and like your
41:12
Speaker 1: New Year's Eve parties and and uh, Ballpark Village has
41:16
Speaker 1: become this this really a destination. Ever since the word
41:20
Speaker 1: that I didn't anticipate. I for some reason in my head,
41:24
Speaker 1: I was thinking this would be like a cool sort
41:27
Speaker 1: of Wrigley vill kind of thing when the Cardinals are
41:29
Speaker 1: playing and then you know, you hopefully get you know,
41:32
Speaker 1: business lunches during the day otherwise, but other than that,
41:35
Speaker 1: it's going to be sort of dark. Not it has
41:38
Speaker 1: not been the case. Um, so you can imagine something
41:41
Speaker 1: like that in downtown Jacksonville. And I've spent a lot
41:44
Speaker 1: of time the time of downtown Jacksonville. Um It's it's
41:49
Speaker 1: unimaginable until you actually experience it. And it's yeah, it's
41:55
Speaker 1: hard when you're trying to create something that hasn't been
42:00
Speaker 1: in there before, especially when there has been failure in
42:03
Speaker 1: that area for years. It's hard for people to see
42:08
Speaker 1: the vision until it's there. And that's really the case
42:11
Speaker 1: of the I don't know how to really describe it.
42:14
Speaker 1: It what I what I will say is is so
42:17
Speaker 1: like we're not in St. Louis, We're not a significant
42:21
Speaker 1: college football market. Uh, you know, we love it, but
42:25
Speaker 1: not like to like Jacksonville loves its college football. I
42:29
Speaker 1: can just imagine forget about the Georgia Florida game, you
42:33
Speaker 1: know which that that'll that'll be you know, unbelievable. But
42:39
Speaker 1: but just every college football Saturday. Um, this development will
42:45
Speaker 1: become something that you couldn't have imagined having lived without
42:49
Speaker 1: until you actually have it, and you'll wonder why why
42:51
Speaker 1: it took so long? I really believe that, because you
42:55
Speaker 1: know that that people will come from from with with
42:59
Speaker 1: all the different opportunities to watch and enjoy yourself down
43:02
Speaker 1: there with other with other activities in and around the games. Uh.
43:06
Speaker 1: And again like here in St. Louis, we know we
43:09
Speaker 1: have concerts uh there there at our at our development
43:12
Speaker 1: of Ballpark Village. And and in fact, what what I
43:16
Speaker 1: often do when possible is if we have big announcements
43:22
Speaker 1: like press conferences from Major League Soccer and the netments
43:25
Speaker 1: and the women's national soccer teams when they come to St. Louis,
43:28
Speaker 1: we actually have those events at Ballpark Village in the
43:32
Speaker 1: live venue and let and now only let we encourage
43:37
Speaker 1: fans to come, you know, to to to celebrate these
43:39
Speaker 1: announcements and that and and they become parties and betimes
43:44
Speaker 1: the daily heartbeat, and that's really where it truly does.
43:48
Speaker 1: And it's understandable that that you know, to some degree
43:51
Speaker 1: this has been overlooked and perhaps not has has been
43:56
Speaker 1: promoted as well as maybe uh should have been or
44:00
Speaker 1: can be uh And that's on me and assist perhaps,
44:03
Speaker 1: but you know, there's an important discussion UH that we
44:07
Speaker 1: all agree is critical obviously, and these are these are
44:11
Speaker 1: big steps for a city in a downtown and we
44:14
Speaker 1: get that and Shot and market that. So I mean,
44:16
Speaker 1: no problem there, but if but if if if everyone
44:20
Speaker 1: were able to take a step back and really see
44:22
Speaker 1: what I've been able to see, and I think, what
44:23
Speaker 1: what what Jacksonville will be able to see in short order,
44:27
Speaker 1: they'll they'll get it and it'll be like we can
44:30
Speaker 1: use more of this and and um in downtown Jacksonville. Again,
44:34
Speaker 1: it's it's potential. I'm telling you, this is someone who
44:37
Speaker 1: loves coming there a five, six, seven times a year
44:39
Speaker 1: or whatever. It's just like sitting you know that that
44:42
Speaker 1: the Sports Complex and Bay Street and and you know,
44:45
Speaker 1: just it's it's like saying, come and take me here,
44:49
Speaker 1: let's do something really cool. And that's how Shot sees it.
44:52
Speaker 1: You know again, I don't want to sound hockey here,
44:55
Speaker 1: but there's a labor of passion and of that shot
45:01
Speaker 1: has for the city that you know, I always have
45:04
Speaker 1: trouble getting across the people because it's just hard for
45:07
Speaker 1: me to describe it. But that's sort of what this
45:10
Speaker 1: is about, right, I mean, he has a vision for
45:12
Speaker 1: it and it sort of wants the Jaguars and Jacksonville
45:16
Speaker 1: to grow together. I guess for sure he's he's um
45:22
Speaker 1: when when we'll talk about London here for just just briefly?
45:25
Speaker 1: And when when? Uh? When? When? In two thousand and twelve?
45:29
Speaker 1: This talks to his ambition when when he he said, hey,
45:31
Speaker 1: you know what we're gonna play was three or four
45:33
Speaker 1: games or whatever over the next four years in London. Uh.
45:37
Speaker 1: And I'm going to be your greatest ambassador. What how
45:40
Speaker 1: how are you? He put it At the time I
45:42
Speaker 1: saw him do that, um um. And that's you know
45:47
Speaker 1: that that think about like a market beside of Jacksonville. Um.
45:52
Speaker 1: As he said famously, it's like, you know, one of
45:55
Speaker 1: our best kept secrets in the United States. But shouldn't
45:57
Speaker 1: be any longer. He went in boldly to to in
46:00
Speaker 1: London and and we had you know, um meetings and
46:04
Speaker 1: access into some of the buildings and you know, like
46:07
Speaker 1: you know, he's he's been everywhere in Janet in London
46:09
Speaker 1: and and talking about Jacksonville and and and he's passionate
46:15
Speaker 1: about it. He still is. I mean that that hasn't changed.
46:17
Speaker 1: I mean it's not just in London, it's just wherever
46:19
Speaker 1: he goes. Um. He carries with him Jaguars jerseys when
46:24
Speaker 1: when he when he travels on business and UM, and
46:27
Speaker 1: he's he's just he just loves the city. He does. UM.
46:32
Speaker 1: But you know, to be fair, he also feels that
46:35
Speaker 1: it has untapped potential, you know. And and he's just somebody.
46:41
Speaker 1: He's an ambitious uh you know, wheneveryone I don't call
46:47
Speaker 1: an entrepreneur. Although you know that's how he really started
46:52
Speaker 1: early on in flexing Gate, just just you know, cold calling.
46:56
Speaker 1: That's how we ended up getting into the NFL. He
46:58
Speaker 1: picked up the phone and called them in line at
47:00
Speaker 1: at the NFL and said, who I talked about owning
47:03
Speaker 1: a team? Okay, that's this true story to that he
47:10
Speaker 1: got the audience, you know, so so um. So that's
47:16
Speaker 1: if anyone's uncomfortable with with with you know that sort
47:19
Speaker 1: of approach. Uh that that may just be something that
47:22
Speaker 1: everyone had to cope with, because that's that's who he is.
47:25
Speaker 1: He's since he bought the Jags. Um, he's he's bought
47:30
Speaker 1: full him. He's he's he's about the Four Seasons hotel
47:34
Speaker 1: in Toronto. Um he's he's launched Black News Channel. Uh
47:39
Speaker 1: all eat Wrestling. Um, I'm forgetting that. You know the
47:44
Speaker 1: development right now at Fulham with Fulham Pier where they've
47:48
Speaker 1: taken out the entire riverside stand. Um. Everyone thought when
47:51
Speaker 1: he bought uh Fulham, like was this mute for us
47:54
Speaker 1: and all that, and like they already thought he was gonna,
47:56
Speaker 1: you know, build condos on the property and moved the
48:00
Speaker 1: teams somewhere else in London and all that setting. Well,
48:02
Speaker 1: he's doing what he said he would do, you know,
48:05
Speaker 1: and he's seen his vision through. Um and even like
48:10
Speaker 1: you know what, when when things don't happen the way,
48:14
Speaker 1: maybe he would like for him to turn out like
48:16
Speaker 1: like like Wembley. Uh he he picks up, moves on,
48:20
Speaker 1: you know what's next. So this is something that's really
48:24
Speaker 1: important to him, um, and that is to to see
48:29
Speaker 1: Jacksonville Uh sort of a rebirth if you will where
48:34
Speaker 1: where it can be everything it should be UM, and
48:38
Speaker 1: he's committed to it, and I think, I think, I
48:41
Speaker 1: think Jacksonville will relish the day that it becomes reality,
48:45
Speaker 1: because take it from someone like me who comes in
48:48
Speaker 1: and out, and I just I really love the city.
48:50
Speaker 1: I love the people there and all that city. But
48:52
Speaker 1: I can see, you know, I can see like this
48:55
Speaker 1: canvas there that's just waiting to be to be painted,
49:00
Speaker 1: and and Shod sees it in different ways than any
49:02
Speaker 1: of us can and and hopefully compels lead. Well, the
49:06
Speaker 1: vision UH is unmatched. And I've you know, for nine
49:09
Speaker 1: years covering Shot. Whatever I write about him, it's it's
49:12
Speaker 1: all or talk about him. It's tough to describe UH
49:18
Speaker 1: because there's a lot of facets to it. And that's
49:21
Speaker 1: a big reason I wanted to have you on today, Jim,
49:22
Speaker 1: was just to talk about that and uh, you know,
49:26
Speaker 1: maybe give people an idea about UH, the man's personal
49:32
Speaker 1: side if somebody who knows and so I can't thank
49:34
Speaker 1: you enough for doing that. I can't thank you enough
49:36
Speaker 1: for taking the time today. Uh. I think listeners have
49:41
Speaker 1: learned a lot about Shod Mark, the Jaguars and sort
49:45
Speaker 1: of the direction that it's trying to go right now.
49:48
Speaker 1: So Jim Wolcock, I appreciate your time and thank you
49:51
Speaker 1: for joining you his own podcast. Well, thanks, John, and
49:53
Speaker 1: I appreciate it and I hope you back in Jacksonville soon,
49:56
Speaker 1: and happy holidays to everyone. Go Jacks. All right, don't
50:00
Speaker 1: want to thank Jim again for joining us. Uh, We're
50:03
Speaker 1: gonna go a little different in terms of closing it
50:05
Speaker 1: out today because Jim and I talked for about an hour.
50:08
Speaker 1: I'll thank Dave to Candice for again making me look
50:11
Speaker 1: better than I am. Thank Joe Fortunito for making me
50:13
Speaker 1: sound better than I am. Thank you to Jim Woodcock
50:16
Speaker 1: for joining the ozone podcast. I think listeners learned a
50:18
Speaker 1: lot and I know this one absolutely didn't suck. We'll
50:21
Speaker 1: see you next week.