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Perspectives - Mark Lamping · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: The following presentation of the Jaguars podcast Network. He's presented
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: by by start Credit Paer. There is a measure of
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: irony in Mark Lamping's role in Jacksonville. The Jaguars president
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: is a St. Louis native and was the president of
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: the Cardinals baseball club during the NFL's expansion derby in
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: the early nineties. Lamping eyed the race through the lens
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: of a civic leader who wanted what was best for
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: his hometown. What he couldn't know at that time was
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: how the decision to give the Jaguars to Jacksonville instead
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: of the Stallions to St. Louis would impact the course
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: of his life. This is perspectives, the story of the
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Jaguars first twenty five seasons told by the people who
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: built the franchise. This is Mark Lamping. No one gave
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Jacksonville a chance at the thirtieth franchise. When Commissioner Paul
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Taglaboo announced Carolina as the twenty ninth team in late
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: October but didn't announce the thirtieth franchise that day, it
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: was a clear sign, but the decks were being cleared
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: for St. Louis. Shocked is probably not strong enough of
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: a word. Um. The Chicago Cardinals relocated to St. Louis
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty and the Chicago Cardinals are one of
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: the oldest franchises in the National Football League, dating back
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: to the UH eighteen eighteen ninety four or something like that,
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: late eight hundreds, obviously, and they moved to St. Louis
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: and then they left St. Louis UH in nineteen seven,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: and it was devastating, and immediately the community started to
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: try to figure out how can we get the NFL
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: back into St. Louis. One of the persons that led
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: that effort was a gentleman by the name of Jerry Clinton.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Jerry Clinton was he and has a bush wholesaler for St.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Louis County. He was also, you know, a very prominent
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: citizen in St. Louis and nationally. You know, was was
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: also well known because he was actually a race car
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: driver as well. And uh uh he had a he
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: had a partner um in his race team who was
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: a fairly fairly famous football player by the name of
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Walter Payton. So Walter and Jerry created this idea of
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: bringing a an NFL team to St. Louis. They got
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: into the expansion uh process. So you had a prominent
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: UH St. Louis in teamed up with a farmer, very famous,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: very well respected, UH former NFL player in Walter Payton,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: and through a lot of hard work, through a lot
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: of effort, UH, they finally put together a funding plan
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: to build a dome stadium in downtown St. Louis. So
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: that got rid of UH the angst in St. Louis
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: about the football team moving out to St. Louis County.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: So stadium was under construction. Jerry Clinton had control of
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: this lease for the stadium because they had done all
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: the work to get to to get the financing of
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: the stadium put together, which we required fancing from the
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: State of Missouri, the City of St. Louis, Anne St.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Louis County, and things were rolling rolling right along. St.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Louis was continuing to make the cut in terms of
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: the expansion teams, you know, as those were narrowed. St.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Louis still stayed there. UM one of the NFL's biggest
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: sponsors at the time and even to this day, and
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: one of the more UH we wanted, one of the
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: biggest sponsors with individual NFL teams. Anne has your bush
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: was very very aggressive in terms of advocating on behalf
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: of of the city of St. Louis with then UH
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Commissioner Paul Tagulebu, and it looked like it was a
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: sure thing. And then I believe what happened was I
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: think the original expansion the price was like a hundred
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: and fifty million, They may have been a hundred five.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Then they bumped it up two hundred fifty. And then
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: they bumped it up to two hundred million dollars after
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Jerry paid what he did for the Cowboys. I think
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: that that was not certain, but I think that was
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: the sequence of events that occurred. And all of a sudden,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: while he was very well funded Jerry Clinton, UH, they
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: didn't have the capacity to be able to UM, to
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: be able to make that work. So, all of a sudden,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: you had a new state in a funding in place
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: for a new stadium in St. Louis, and think, in fact,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: I think the stadium was under construction. UM, you had
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: a what appeared to be a really good owner teamed
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: up with a former NFL player, a really good combination,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: and now all of a sudden, they don't have the
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: financial capacity to pay the additional fifty or a hundred
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: million dollars whatever that increment was. And I think at
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: that point, I think there was actually some behind the
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: scenes overtures to Wayne Weaver to see if Wayne would
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: move his interest to St. Louis because Wayne spent many
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: many years in St. Louis's head of has a head
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: of brown shoe. But you know, um, you know, thankfully
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: and not surprisingly, you know, Wayne uh was very loyal
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: to Jacksonville. So um, the city of St. Louis didn't
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: found themselves in a situation where they didn't have an owner, uh,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: and they decided they needed to go get a deeper
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: pocketed owner, and they put together a bunch of of
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: old guard in St. Louis and actually recruited a very
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: wealthy um individual who lived in mid state, in uh,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: mid Missouri, in Columbia, Missouri. His name was Stan Cronkey,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: and they brought Stan Crokey and because Stan had an
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: interest in football, was very wealthy. So now you had
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: Stan Crokey coming in with a lot of you know,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: old St. Louis money, the old guard in St. Louis,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, Jerry Clinton is wondering, you know,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: what just happened, So he did all the work to
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: get the stadium built. He did all the work to
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: move St. Louis along through the expansion process. And now
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: there's a new entity that shows up because Jerry didn't
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: have all the money, but what Jerry had that was very,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: very valuable was control of the stadium. He had the
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: least for the stadium. So you went through a period
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: where this new group that Stan Cronky was a part of.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: Stan was recruited to be a part of it negotiating
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: with Jerry Clinton and as Bush Hoolesaler and his partner
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Walter Payton to be able to get control of the
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: stadium lease and UH once again, they couldn't. They couldn't
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: resolve it. You know, Jerry thought it was worth a
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: significant amount of money. The new new owners didn't see
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: it that way, and all of a sudden you had
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: chaos in St. Louis. And it was during that period
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: that the the expansion vote was getting very close. They
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: actually had the vote it was supposed to be for
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: both teams and ended up awarding UH the first expansion slot,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: UH to UH to Charlotte, and then decided to delay
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: on the on the second. I think they delayed for
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: thirty days and what they what they were basically doing
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: was giving St. Louis the last opportunity to try to
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: get their house in order. And uh, you know, it
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: was it was a foregoing conclusion. I was, I was.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: I had just been named president of the of the Cardinals,
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: the baseball Cardinals at that time, and you know, we were,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: we were well down down the line in terms of
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: negotiating for the baseball stadium to be the temporary home
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: of the team while the stadium football stadium was being completed.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: The team name was picked out. It was the St.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: Louis Stallions, the colors were picked out. They even had
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: the fight song that was being broadcast all the time.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: So to to say that it was a surprise in St. Louis, retrospectively,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: it shouldn't have been a surprise, you know, because it
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: was St. Louis's to win and lost it. But then
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: you look back, you know, you know, back over that situation,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: and the NFL made the right decision, you know, to
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: believe in Jackson Building, to believe in in the fans,
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: and you know, if not for you know, the the
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: in fighting and the fumbling that occurred in my hometown. Um,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: you know, Jacksonville would not have an NFL team, and
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: I and my wife and I are family never would
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: have been blessed to have the opportunity to live here.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Lamping focused on St. Louis, the Cardinals and building a
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: new baseball stadium until two thousand eight, when he moved
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: to New York to leave the efforts to build MetLife Stadium.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: A phone call, ironically routed through the Gateway City brought
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: him to an interesting place. Well, it's a it's it's
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: a again another story that uh bisex St. Louis. Um.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: You know, before a shot had the privilege to to
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: purchase the Jazz Wars Um he was working on buying
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: the St. Louis Rams and went through an extended period
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: of time in um Um in negotiating and all the
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: due diligence that would be a part of it. And
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: it's interesting once again, the name stan Cronki comes into
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: play here us the UM Georgia Frontier had passed away UM,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: the owner of the team her estate, UM desired to
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: sell the team. Stan Cronkie was a minority owner of
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: the team and had an option to purchase the team. UM.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: It didn't appear as though he was going to exercise
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: that option, and over the course of of many months,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: I think it was almost as much as as eighteen months,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Shod was doing due diligence on the purchase of the
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: of the St. Louis Rams. And during that during that process, um,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: you know, he he he also was began to be
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: thinking about how he might staff the Rams. And uh,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: you know, this goes back to two thousand and ten,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: two thousand eleven, I believe, and uh I had left St. Louis.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: I was President of Cardinals from four to two thousand eight.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: I just left to go to New York. And so
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: Shod was in St. Louis a couple of years later. UM,
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: he was. He was talking to people about, you know,
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: trying to fill um uh you know, the president's position
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: to run the day to day business operations of the Rams.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: And somebody had suggested to him that, you know, maybe
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: I would be interested in in coming back from New
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: York to St. Louis. UM. I think everybody knows how
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: that story ends. Shot ends up not buying the Rams.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: S Dan Crocky, you know, at the very end of
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: his option period exercised his right to UH to buy
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: the Rams and then Shot uh but ends up in
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: a conversation not that long after that with Wayne Weaver
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: and uh um Um. The negotiations go very quickly. This
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: would have been um, you know, the end of two
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: thousand eleven, so early two thousand twelve, Shot closes on
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: the purchase of the of the Jaguars, and a few
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: weeks after that, you know, I received a call from
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: a third party asked me if I'd be number one
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: interested in meeting Shotgun. I had not met him before,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: and if I'd be interested in coming down to Jacksonville
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: to talk to him about, you know, joining his his
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: team that he was putting together to h to run
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: the run the Jaguars. So Shad and I had had
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: not met before two thousand twelve. Um. I obviously was
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: well aware of him, you know, because because his his
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: his reputation you know is Stertling and and um everybody
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: had everybody, everybody knew who he was in the sports world.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: So I was I was really really fortunate. You know,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: once again you have something that ties back to St.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: Louis that you know, but you know, had shot purchased
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: h the St. Louis Rams first, I think that would
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: have been that would have been you know, wonderful for St. Louis.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: You know, really in in some respects, Um, the biggest
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: loss to what happened, you know with the Rams, Um
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: and and and Shots attempted to buy the team that
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: ultimately led to the Rams relocating to Los Angeles. Uh.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: You know, I was born and raised in St. Louis.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: You know, still still have very close ties back there
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: and still have family there. And in many respects, I
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: think the big the biggest loss for St. Louis was
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: not losing the NFL team, was not losing the Rams.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: The biggest loss to St. Louis was losing the opportunity
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: to have shot Con as part of that community. And
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: it was you know, through through through those circumstances, you know,
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Shot ends up owning the Jacksonville Jaguars. I was really
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: really fortunate to be asked to be a part of it.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: And um, you know what what shod means to to
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: this community, you know, really speaks for itself. The challenge
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: was distinct and very obvious, but what was clear to
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: Lamping the first time the two men met was CON's
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: drive to build something unique, something special. It was really
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: shots vision. I mean, you know, we didn't we didn't
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: talk specifics, you know there. If we did talk any specifics,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: it had more to do with, you know, things related
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: to the stadium and you know, uh, operational aspects the
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: business side of football. But when I walked away from
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: that conversation, it was clear that that Shod had really
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: really high ambitions and that he was fully committed to
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: not just maintaining the status quo, but to really grow, um,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: you know, the Jacksonville Jaguars too, to make them a
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: very special franchise. And his commitment to Jacksonville was also
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: very clear. So while while you know, the strategy and
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: the tactics really weren't discussed at that time, the objectives
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: were and the objectives were that we're going to be
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: a stable, we're gonna be a growing, we're gonna be
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: a dominant and a well respected sports franchise. And uh,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: I don't think you could say that that the team
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: that Shod bought were all those things at the time.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: It was not. But it was clear that you know,
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: that was Shods. Uh. It really wasn't his vision, it
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: was his expectation and one way or the other, that's
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: gonna you know, that was gonna happen, and and and
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: you know when I left my first discussion with him,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: it was it was it was with great excitement because, um,
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: you know, you had somebody that was that was that
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: was committed, that was willing to do you know what
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: it took to achieve and to meet those objectives. And uh,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: it was just a really nice, pleasant guy to be around.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: So um, it was. It was a it was a
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: really fortunate trip that I was up in New York.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: I flew down on a Friday. I met with shod Um.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: You know, we we we we had a home down
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: in the Jupiter area from the years, and I was
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: with the Cardinals. That's where Cardinals had spring training. So
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: as a weather turn cold up in New York, you know, uh,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: you know, my wife would report uh to spring training
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: about two months ahead of the pictures and catchers and
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: then I would uh, I would commute down on weekends,
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: so you know, she drove from Jupiter up to UH,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: up to Jacksonville. We met here. I met with Shot
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: on Friday. We hunt we hung around that weekend to
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: get a sense for the community. Had never been to
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: Jacksonville before. Both of us had been to a million
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: alland but neither one of us had spent anytime in Jacksonville,
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: so we got We took the opportunity to get to
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: know the community a little bit, and it was it
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: was a really, really fortunate turn of events from you
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: and my family. More perspectives following this from bi Star
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  Speaker 1: loan subject to approval, insured by n c U. A
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: to be blunt, Lamping was looking at an enormous job.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: The Jaguars were a mess on the field, but the
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: problems extended far beyond football to a business model. It
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: had to be broken in order to be fixed. Somehow,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: it didn't seem like an obstacle. It seemed like an
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: opportun entity and one he didn't want to miss. You know,
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: the idea of being able to work for somebody like Shot,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: I mean there's you know, I've I've had the opportunity
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: to work for, you know, some of the best owners
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: in sports, you know, the Bush family, the Mayor family, UM,
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: Woody Johnson, UH, the DeWitt family. So some really really
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: top notchment very lucky to uh to work for those
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: types of owners. Not everybody is that lucky, you know.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: There there there are some owners that are really difficult
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: to work for. UM. So you know, the idea of
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: of you know, being able to to work for Shod
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: um and also the you know, the only thing I
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: was really concerned about in in coming down here, and
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: and and and and Shod allayed those fears. The first
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: time I met him, I was just wondering whether it
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: it would be enough, you know, just working for a
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: football team in Jacksonville, Florida, you know, because I mean
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: I worked for a very prominent, very you know nationally
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: and internationally, had claimed baseball team in St. Louis, President
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: Sal's Karlos for fourteen years. And as I got near
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: the end of that, it didn't seem like there was
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: enough on the horizon too. You know, I want to
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: continue to be challenged, I want to continue to learn.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: I think those are things that you know, help you know,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: keep as young as as we age, you know, as
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: I age, certainly. And my only concern was would would
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: it get what you would I get bored down here?
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: And after talking with Shod, you know, the idea to
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: be able to you know, not only focus on fixing
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: the our base business, which is the Jacksonville j was
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: first and foremost were a football team that will always
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: be the most important thing. But then the idea of
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: knowing you know, you know what I did know about
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: opportunities here at the stadium. UH, the idea to be
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: able to be created, to be able to work in
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: an environment where you can be creative and and and
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: try to come up with new solutions to old problems.
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: And they have an owner that UM, you know, believes
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: in investing in the team and also believes that the
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: only reason you make investments is to make a return.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: The alternative doesn't last very long. So UM first the
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: London initiative, it was very really exciting from a career perspective,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: UM shots purchase of the Fulham Football Club UM is
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: very interesting from a career perspective, UM being much more
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: aggressive in terms of getting into the entertainment business, specifically
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: the music business with Daily's Place and now a real
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: focus on development here in Jacksonville, and particularly as it
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: relates to the Jacksonville development shipyards and lot J along
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: with Daily's Place. To be able to do something that
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: you know not only well is very important for the
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: long term viability of of the football team here in Jacksonville,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: but it also gives you the opportunity to do something
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: very special for this community and for downtown, and those
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: types of opportunities don't don't come along every day where
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: you can do something that is really really supportive of
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: your business goals, but then you also have this huge
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: ancillary benefit of doing something outstanding for the community. In
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: November of con began to share his expansive vision for
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: the Jaguars with the city of Jacksonville. The commitment to
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: play games in London initially put the fan base on
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: its heels. They were worried about the future of their team,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: but six games in seven years into the Jaguars relationship
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: with the United Kingdom, the title London has become one
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: of Jacksonville's strongest bonds. The early following the ground was
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: done by the National Football League and and and to
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: this to this day. Um. You know, the London strategy
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: from a football perspective, UM is really driven by the
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: league and the International Committee. Now our role is really
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: really important because not only are we serving the league
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: and it's in its attempt to develop the UK as
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: a as a as an NFL market, but also to
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: be able to to UH gain some knowledge as to
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: how how will that market respond to the repeated appearances
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: of a team. Okay, so one of the real benefits
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: of of the Jaguars UM playing in in in London
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: each year is first we're helping out the league. Second,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: we're helping out ourselves because the obvious economic benefit of
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: playing there versus that game being played here in Jacksonville.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: And third, our ability to work hand in hand with
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: hand with the league in terms of of how we
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: develop uh the market. So we have you know, four
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: full time Jaguar employees that are that are based in London. Um.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: You know, we've gone from you know, pretty much an
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: afterthought of a franchise throughout the UK UH to UH
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: two in the top ten in terms of popularity UH
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: and that continues to grow. Um. Um. We've gotten very
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: involved in the community in London, just as we do
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: here in Jacksonville, working very hard h on charitable activities,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: principally focusing on fighting uh, childhood obesity and doing it
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: in a way uh that you know, young boys and
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: girls in the UK are learning about American football. So
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: we've introduced something called jag Tag, which is basically flag football.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: But you know there's thousands of of of children that
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: are playing this through their elementary schools. It is spread,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: Um started in London, it has spread outside London. Uh.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: You know, we supported very aggressively from a funding standpoint
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: um and also we we actually have a partnership with
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: the with the British government where they actually fund this program.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: So it was it was difficult at first because anytime
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: you go into a new market you have to you know,
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: you're gonna make a lot of mistakes just because you're
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: you know, you're not you're not wise to the ways
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: of that particular community. But you know, over the years
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: we've been going there, you know, it seems like a
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: second home for us. Without any question. You know, I'm
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: I'm over there, uh you know once a month, I'm
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: actually flying there this afternoon and and I'm coming back
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: a day and a half later, So it's it's a
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: it's a flight, but it's not like, you know, you
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: can't get there and have a couple of meetings then
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: come back the next morning. Um, And it's it's it's
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: it's it's from a career perspective, and I'm not talking
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: about by me here, but it makes working for the
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Jacksonville Jaguars so much more interesting and appealing to people
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: who were thinking about joining this organization. And you know,
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: we're only going to be as good as the as
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: as the quality of the people that were able to
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: to recruiting an attract and develop here with the Jaguars
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: and the idea that we're involved in so many different
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: things with London, you know, being close to the top
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: of the list, it really makes this organization much more
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: interesting for people to to join that it would be
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: if we were just you know, another NFL team that
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: happened to be located in the state of Florida. That
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: their commitment has been questioned, truthfully, is constantly questioned, is
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: just part of my pan The NFL's smallest market, one
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: with unique challenges that require innovative solutions. Still for a
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: guy from the show me state, it would be nice
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: if people would look at what they've done. Jacksonville in
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: terms of its own somewhat self paranoia reminds me a
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: lot of my hometown and St. Louis. St. Louis is
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: the same way, I think, because it's a smaller market.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: You know, we're all always sort of looking over our
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: shoulder a little bit and you know, wondering, you know,
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: when that that next storm is going to appear. And
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: I think that applies to people's view of the football
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: team because the uh, you know, the Jaguars arrived here
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: against all odds, and this the community, this community in
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: specifically NFL and Jaguar fans. You know, we're put through
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: a lot, through a lot at the beginning in terms
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: of if you don't do this, we're not going to
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: get an NFL team, if you don't buy eleven thousand
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: club seats, and of course of a couple of weeks,
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: then we're not going to get an NFL team. I
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: think the community for a long time felt they were
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: always being used, whether it was the Oilers coming down
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: here and um, you know, the Jacksonville was always the
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: city you'd go to negotiate to get the deal you
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: really want in a different city. And I think I
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: think the team, you know, inflicted some of it on
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: the community as well, where you know, there there wasn't
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: um an absence of talk about well, if we don't
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: sell these tickets, then bad things are gonna happen. The
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: games are gonna be on TV, the team may relocate,
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: and I don't, I don't. I don't know that there
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: was ever, you know, really clear evidence of the level
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: of equipment, although I know it, you know it certainly
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: you know existed. So so the fans went through a lot.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: Now Shod comes in and it's very clear in terms
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: of what his goals are. In fact, one of the
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: early things that that that was determined was we're not
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: all the games are gonna be on TV. We don't
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: care whether we have to buy the tickets or not.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: We're not gonna hold the the the broadcast of the
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: Jaguars game home game over the heads of our fans.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: Um and and that he that he focused on investing.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: And you know, we don't own the stadium, but you know,
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: Shot is invested just in the stadium alone, well in
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: excess of a hundred million dollars of his money. In
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: the stadium and then we UM develop a structure with
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: the London game. There really is was designed and has
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: worked out to be a win win both of the
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: Jaguars in London and locally here, uh for for Jacksonville
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: in terms of awareness, in terms of economic development, in
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: terms of additional tourism benefits, all those things have accrued,
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: all those benefits of a crew to Jacksonville as part
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: of this this this the London strategy. And then you
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: have the big investment in Daily's place and then you
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: have um a commitment to invest you know, hundreds of
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: millions of dollars more in downtown Jacksonville through the shipyards
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: and lot J And then somebody asked you while you're
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: moving the team. You know, it's I mean weird. You know,
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: we live in the criticism business. If you work for
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: a professional sports team, Uh that's you're you're always getting
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: criticized because there's no perfect team, you know, uh, there's
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: there there's always room to improve, and people talk about
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: our business all the time. You know, just turn on
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: the you know radio here in in uh in Jacksonville,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: and if you're if you're listening to a sports talk station,
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: you know, of the discussion throughout the entire year, not
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: just during the football season. The entire year is gonna
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: be about football, and of that, you know, it's gonna
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: be talking about the Jaguars. So, um, you know it's
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: you know, I've said, I guess I have the benefit
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: of of having worked in sports for a long time,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: so I sort of under understand that. And you know,
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: you you you you should have really thick skin as
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: it relates to this, you know these types of things. Um,
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: you know, and and nobody feels sorry for you that
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: you work for a professional sports team. There's not a
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: person here in Jacksonville that you know would reach awe,
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: you know, the burden you have of having to work
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: for the local NFL team. That just doesn't happen. Okay,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: So people don't feel sorry for you North should they? Um?
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: And then you know when you're actually writing big checks
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: and this is shot when Shod's writing big checks and uh, all,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: all all he's ever asked, and all as an organization
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: we've ever asked is judges by our actions, not by
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: you know what someone informed pundent you know out of
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: New York or Los Angeles may write judges based on
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: what we say, but more importantly judges by what we do.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: And then you know, sometimes you'll get those questions and yeah,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: I can I can see how Shot and others would
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: hire of that very quickly. What the Jaguars did is
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: what they said they were going to do. They attacked problems,
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: look for new solutions, didn't blame their poor record or customers,
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: and waited for their effort to pay off, which seemed
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: to happen until an inadvertent whistle in New England. The
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: athleticism that Miles Jack showed just to be able to
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: run down the runner he was little, literally on the
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: other side of the field, he caught up to him,
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: he created the fumble. He was self aware enough to
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: stay away from him, so he wasn't touched down. Um
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: recovered the fumble and was on his way to scoring,
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: perhaps not not knowing what may have happened that had
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: we gotten to the Super Bowl, but perhaps the most
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: impactful touchdown in the history of the franchise. And when
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: you look back on that, had that call been playing,
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: had that call been made the way it should have
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: UM this year, I believe we would be recognizing that
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: play as the as the biggest play in the history
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: of the franchise. I mean, you think about that, you
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: go from an official who fortunately they're they're human too,
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: but an air is made. But the consequences of that,
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: you know, you know, we can talk about the Super
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: Bowl everything beyond that, and and and and every team
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: goes through this. Look at the Saints this year, but
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: that that play would have I think, you know, you
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: would know better than better than than me, but that
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: would have been the most that would have been the
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: biggest play in the history of the franchise, just like that. So, um,
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: we've been we've been spending a lot of money investing,
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: you know, in the in the business side of the
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: Jaguars since shod bought the team. Investing in facilities, but
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: almost you know, probably more importantly, investing in people, investing
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: in products, all those types of things. And because there
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: was a great opportunity to increase you know, what I
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: would describe as the revenue infrastructure of the Jacksonville Jaguars,
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: and um, you know that that takes time, you know,
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: redoing the clubs, redoing the stadium, h removing seats, um
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: creating new seating products, all those types of things you
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: can't do overnight. So we you know, we we finished
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: most of that work, and then we have two thousand
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: seventeen happened and and and the impact on our business,
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: particularly going from seventeen to eighteen was really really significant.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: And the reason it was so significant was a huge
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: increase in terms of interest of UH interest in the team,
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: but also we had the revenue infrastructure in place to
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: fully capitalize on that, UH and that led us into
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: two thousand eighteen. And as you know, as we've talked about,
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: you know, UH most recently at the State of the
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: franchise UM the the seven highest individual ticket UH gates
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: the amount of ticket revenue that we collect on a
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: game by game basis, the seven seven highest in history
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: of the franchise. All happened in two thousand eighteen as
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: a result of interested in the club and also are
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: being able to to take advantage of the of the
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: revenue infrastructure that we've invested in built and also quite honestly,
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: you know, the opportunity to sell through a price increase,
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: which has been difficult to do in this marketplace. So
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: seventeen was really really important. UM, you know, eighteen, UH,
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: you know was you know, certain I don't think anybody
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: would describe as anything other than a huge disappointment. But
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: because of the investments we've made in the past, and
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: because of the residual impact of of of two thousand
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: and seventeen UM, you know this, this, this, this year
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: will be a very difficult year compared to two thousand
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: and eighteen UM, but it's gonna be a year compared
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: to prior years. UM. You know that's that's still okay.
• 33:49
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• 34:25
  Speaker 1: the world of professional sports long enough to know how
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: things work. His career began in one of America's great
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: baseball towns, and it continues today in a city that
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: loves football as much as St. Louis loves its game.
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: His way of thinking, time is the only variable for
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: Jacksonville to be to football, but his hometown is to baseball. Well,
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: we we need to start having consistent success on the field.
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: I apologize for keep on going back to St. Louis,
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: but born a razor, and that's that's what I know.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: One of the one of the reasons St. Louis is
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: such a great baseball too, is that it didn't It
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: didn't developed overnight. In fact, for a long time Saint
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: Louis had two baseball teams and lost one of them.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: Saint Lois Brown's went on to become the Baltimorials. But St.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: Louis has has had the Cardinals for well and access
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: of a hundred years. But most importantly from my perspective,
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: um they've they've had uh generational success, which means no
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: matter what generation you are as a as a St.
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: Louis and as a Saint Louis Cardinal fan, there there
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: there were there were teams that one World Series and that,
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: and there were players that became Hall of Famers. If
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: you grew up in St. Louis, you know no matter
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: what age you are during during your your formative years,
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: you came across a championship team and you came across
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: some Hall of Fame players, and you know, in order
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: to do that, you need to have success on the field,
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: because you're not gonna have success on the field without
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: great players. So first and foremost, this franchise needs to
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: win more frequently. In addition to that, we need to
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: continue to get a little age on us. You know,
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: we you know, we still have, you know, uh, relatively
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: young franchise when you compare it to some of the
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: more historic franchises. The fact that you know, this is
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: a bit of a transient town and so many people
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: move here that are that are really fortunate to move here,
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: but sometimes they bring their football allegiances with them. So
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: there's no no reason why if if we can have
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: success and we can become an even more important part,
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: in an integral part of this community. I think this
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: downtown development is really an important part of this. What
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: we should aspire to is to become the Green Bay
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: of the South. That's what we should aspire to. And
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: you know, people look at Green Bay today and there
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: a lot of people assume it's always been that way.
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: That's not the case. You know, there was there was
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: a period not that long ago where they where they
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: played close to half of their schedule at Milwaukee County
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: Stadium in Milwaukee. They didn't even play all their games
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: at the lambeau Field. But now you know, they're they
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: are the true definition of a regional franchise and national franchise.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: And uh, you know the reason that occurred, there's there's
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: a lot of reasons why that happened, but one of
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: the point of the key reasons is they had success.
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: And they had success not every year, not even not
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: every decade, but they had constant success up there. He
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: wasn't sure if Jacksonville would be enough, and at times
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: he had to wonder if it might be too much,
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: but he isn't backing down, and his confidence in the
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: present and the future drives the franchise towards CON's vision.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: This job is so different than what I had originally
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: anticipated that it could have could have been. And I'm
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: so thankful and and all the thanks goes to Shot
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: for having the the ambition, UH to take on a
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: problem that not many people would have osen to take
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: on the easiest thing in the world would have been
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: for somebody to come in and just move the franchise
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: to a bigger market. Are you kidding? Let me look
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: look in some respects that That's the thing that I
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: think all of us are are most proud of, is
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: that you you know, you go through a period that
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: you know, maybe as much as almost twenty four months
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: where you had active discussions, really active discussions about uh
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: team relocations and who's gonna go to Los Angeles? Is
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: it gonna be the Rams, is it gonna be the Chargers,
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: Is it gonna be the Raiders? And you go through
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: that whole process, and the Jaguars weren't afterthought. I'll guarantee
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: you if that same process had been going on before
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: Shot I bought the team and before the Jaguars would
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: have been prominent in those discussions. Does that mean does
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: not mean that the team would have relocated. I'm not
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: suggesting that, but I guarantee they would have been prominent
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: in those discussions in terms of what team's gonna go
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: to l A. Okay, even even if there was no
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: nothing happening here that would have suggested that the speculation
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: would have been because what what what people would have
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: been speculating about is Let's look over the recent history
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: of the Jaguars blacking out the games, tarps on the seats,
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: um appealing to the community that if you don't buy tickets,
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: then you made lose your football team. So so all things,
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: all things considered, you know, I think this community is
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: blessed to have shot Con as the owner of football
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: team because he has staying power and he also has
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: high ambition. Uh and uh, you know there's we've we've
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: we've made a tremendous amount of progress. We still have
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: a long way to go, but you know, I can
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: say with a thousand percent confidence, you know our better
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: days are endless